Admissions - change of school

Information about applying for a place other than with the normal intake.

Before filling in the application form please go through the following reasons why you want to change school,

• If you are moving house.
• If your child is being bullied.

Please download and print the application form and supporting notes (the supporting notes provide you with information to help you complete your form). Then complete the form, sign it and return to

School Admissions,
Education and Children's Services,
PO Box 20,
Council House
Solihull,
B91 9QU

What is the procedure if I am moving house?

• If your move involves the purchase of a property then you will need to provide appropriate written evidence in the form of a letter from your Solicitors detailing your exchange of contracts and the actual completion date. A letter of intention to purchase is not sufficient.
• If your move involves the renting of a property, you will need to provide appropriate independent written evidence (e.g. from an Estate Agent or Solicitor) of the tenancy agreement or lease including the start and end date. You will also need to provide appropriate written evidence (in the form of a letter from your Solicitor or Estate Agent) confirming the sale of your existing property.
• If your move involves you returning to live in a property that you already own, you will need to provide appropriate written evidence of the date that you will resume living in the property and that you intend to remain living there for the foreseeable future. If you have rented this property out, please provide evidence that you have given your tenants notice to leave.
• If your move involves any other circumstances, you will need to provide appropriate written independent evidence of the date when you begin living there, the arrangements you will have for living there and the length of time for which you envisage staying there.
• If your move involves you residing with a member of your family, we will need to see your child benefit book, showing that the child is resident at the relevant address.

Please note that unless the written evidence you provide proves, to the satisfaction of the Education Authority, that you have moved to the address that you indicate, we will not be able to consider your application from your new address.

In certain circumstances we may ask an Education Welfare Officer to visit you to verify that you are resident at the address you state on your application form.

What should I do if my child is being bullied at School?

PLEASE READ THE NOTES BELOW CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW THE STEPS BEFORE MAKING YOUR APPLICATION.

• Before making a 'change of school application' you must contact your child's current school to arrange an appointment with the head of year or your child's form tutor to discuss a possible course of action.
• You must ask to see the school's 'Anti-Bullying Policy'.
• If you have already removed your child from their current school, you must contact Education Welfare on 0121 788 1505 to seek assistance and support.
• If after all of the above the matter has not been resolved please complete a 'change of school' application form and contact School Admissions on 0121 704 6693.

Please note, in most cases Solihull secondary schools are full in all year groups, therefore a satisfactory alternative cannot always be found. Parents do have the right of appeal although this process can take in excess of 6 weeks.

How do we measure the distance from a home to a school?

If an application for a place at any Solihull school needs a distance measurement this is calculated by our admissions system using ADDRESS-POINT. ADDRESS-POINT® provides a national grid co-ordinate and a unique reference for each postal address in Great Britain. The grid reference is provided to a resolution of 0.1 metre (10cm). The accuracy of each ADDRESS-POINT is such that each point will fall within the addressed building. ADDRESS-POINT is created by matching information from Ordnance Survey digital map databases with more than 27 million addresses recorded in the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF).