Home address for applications
Your child’s home address is the address where they are living on the closing date.
Addresses are checked against council records however we may require you to provide evidence. Where parental responsibilities are equally shared, the home address will be the place your child sleeps and spends most of their time from Monday to Friday. This is the address that will be used to process your application and calculate home-to-school distance or confirm a sibling attending the school.
If you’re not sure what address to use you should seek advice before submitting your application.
We cannot accept a temporary address if you still possess a property that was previously used as a home address; nor will we accept a temporary address if it is used solely or mainly to obtain a school place.
In the case of UK service personnel with a confirmed posting in the area or Crown servants returning from overseas who will reside in Hackney, we will allocate a school place on the basis of the family’s intended future address. For UK service personnel the application must be accompanied by an official letter declaring a relocation date and unit address or quartering address in Hackney. Applications from Crown servants will be dealt with on a case by case basis and proof of the intended future address must be provided, particularly in the case where the application includes oversubscribed schools. In all other aspects these applications will be treated as for any other Hackney resident and in accordance with published admission arrangements.
Moving house
If you move house you must let the Hackney Education Admissions Team know your new address immediately.
You must provide proof of residence at your new address to confirm that you are living there before:
- 12 December 2024 (for secondary admissions) or
- 12 February 2025 (for primary admissions).
This will normally include proof of exchange of contracts or a signed tenancy agreement in addition to an original utility bill, such as a gas or water bill.
If you are unable to provide evidence prior to the required date, we will only be able to use your new address to adjust your child’s position on the waiting list after:
- 3 March 2025 (for secondary admissions) or
- 16 April 2025 (for primary admissions).
Applying from overseas
If you reside outside the UK but intend to return to live in Hackney before the start of the 2025 academic year you must apply using the overseas address where you reside at the time of application. Please note, you will not be able to use the online eAdmissions system and will need to apply using a paper application form which is available by email at:
- secondary.transfer@hackney.gov.uk (for secondary admissions); or
- reception.class@hackney.gov.uk (for primary admissions).
Your application will be processed on the basis of your overseas address. Home-to-school distance measurements will be based on your location at the closing date. This means that you are unlikely to be offered a place at an oversubscribed school on the basis of distance.
Upon returning to the UK and providing proof that you are resident in Hackney your application will then be considered on the basis of your Hackney address.
Proof of address and fraudulent applications
We will check your address against council tax and other council records. If we cannot confirm your address we will ask you for further evidence.
If you have changed address in the last year you may need to complete a questionnaire to prove that you live permanently at that address.
Failure to provide proof of address, if requested, may cause delays in processing your application.
If a school place is offered on fraudulent or intentionally misleading information, it will be withdrawn and your application processed using the appropriate address. We may also consider withdrawing the place after your child has started school, regardless of how much time has passed, if we decide that a false address was used during the application process.
We will also ask the school to check your child’s home address at the time of admission. If it is different from the address on your application form we will investigate further.
We carry out random checks and investigate a sample of applications where there has been a change of address:
- in the last 12 months;
- where a parent moves after national offer day, up to the end of their child’s first term in Reception or Year 7.
We will investigate all applications where:
- we doubt the integrity of the information provided;
- information has been received from a member of the public to suggest a fraudulent application has been made; or
- council records do not match the application.
Any applicant who provides false information will have their offer of a school place withdrawn. They may also be subject to legal proceedings. If we find out that your home address is not in Hackney, we will advise you to make a new application via your home local authority.
We reserve the right to seek additional information to carry out our investigations. We also reserve the right to carry out home visits to the address used on the application form and any other addresses used previously.