Changing Schools (In-year transfers)

Why transfer?

The decision to transfer schools must never be taken lightly. A settled school placement throughout the primary or secondary phase is important, not only to give a child the best possible educational opportunities but also to help social and emotional development. If your child is having difficulties at school or you are considering a transfer for other reasons, please discuss the issues with your child’s class teacher, head of year, or Headteacher before you complete the form. Often the issues can be resolved within the school.

We do realise that in some circumstances it may be necessary to transfer your child to another school, for example, if you are moving house on a permanent basis and the distance would make it impossible for your child to attend their current school.

If I decide a transfer is appropriate, what is the next step?

The in-year transfer form must be completed online. Supplementary information needs to be included. The parent/carer must collect this information before making an application.

Remember: You are responsible by law for ensuring your child’s attendance at school. Unless your child has been permanently excluded he/she will remain on roll and is expected to attend their current school until the school transfer has been completed.

Who has parental responsibility?

Transfer requests must be discussed with all those with parental responsibility for the child. In law this responsibility is given to:

• A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.
• Both parents if they are married to each other at the time of the birth or jointly adopt a child; this never ends, even if they divorce or separate.
• Unmarried fathers may acquire parental responsibility by jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother (from 1 December 2003), by obtaining a parental responsibility order from the courts, by entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the mother, or by obtaining a residence order.
• Other adults may obtain parental responsibility if a child arrangement order or special guardianship order is made in their favour and will last as long as the order is in force.

Permanent address

The address used for a transfer should be the one in which the child currently resides. After moving within or into Oldham, send address updates to the admissions team. You can still apply for an in year transfer from outside of Oldham.

A child’s home address is defined in Oldham Council’s admission arrangements as the child’s normal place of residence. It excludes any business, relative’s, or child-minder’s address. If there is a formal residence order or child arrangements order that says that legal custody is equally shared, then it is up to the parents to agree on which address to use for a school place application.

If legal custody is not equally shared, the address of the parent with the majority of custody will be used. If there is no formal agreement in place the address at which any Child Benefit is claimed will be used.

This protocol is about finding convenience addresses for any application at Oldham Council.

An address of convenience is an address used to gain a school place. It is not a child’s normal, permanent residence.

The normal permanent address is where the child resides for most of the school week. It is where the child’s main guardian lives.

Oldham Council will investigate if the main carer of the child still has a property that was previously used as a home address. We will also investigate if we suspect an address has been used mainly to get a school place. In situations where they still own an alternative address, renting out the owned property does not make it unavailable to the family.

There are no set criteria that define and confirm an address of convenience. It is up to the admission authority to decide if the address on an application is the child’s normal, permanent address. Some examples of when an address of convenience may be considered are as follows:

• An applicant applies from an address where the child does not permanently reside, for example, a relative’s address.
• A family rents a property or stays with relatives for a short time. They use this address to get a school place, while keeping ownership of another property. In cases like this, the family's property would be the address to assess admission from. Even if the family does not live there.
• Where a child splits time between two parents at different addresses, an application is made from the address where the child does not spend most of the school week. A court order should be present which specifies the living arrangements. If residency is truly split equally, then parents must decide which address to apply from and only apply from one address.

Oldham Council must investigate any possible fraud. and will carry out any necessary spot checks. Whilst investigations are on-going, the current status of your application and any relevant school place offered will be unaffected. Oldham Council may withdraw the offer of a place if it is discovered that false information has been supplied. Giving false information could lead to prosecution.

Will my application be successful?

Yes, if there are places at one of your preferred school.

Your application will be refused in certain circumstances:

• If there are no places in the particular year group. An alternative school may be offered or your child could remain at their current school. You will be placed on a waiting list and offered the right of appeal for a place at the school.
• The Admission Authority may decide to refuse the transfer of a child to a school who falls within the definitions of the Fair Access Protocol.