Changing school is a significant step. You should think carefully before submitting your application.
Your reasons
- If you are thinking of requesting a change of school for your child because of concerns about:
- their attendance; or
- their behaviour; or
- bullying
- we strongly recommend that you talk to someone at your child’s current school about your reasons for considering a change. It might be that any issues could be addressed without having to change schools. You may find the following web pages useful:
Headstart Kernow: Struggling in school
Health advice for children and young people
Travel assistance
- Your entitlement to home to school travel assistance might change depending on where you are applying.
- Your entitlement might change even if you are not changing your address.
- Information on transport can be found on the Home to School Travel Assistance pages.
Secondary-age students
- Your child might not be able to continue studying the same subjects/option choices.
- Their existing coursework might not be applicable to a different examining body.
Designated areas
- Cornwall Council has divided Cornwall into areas called ‘designated areas’. You might also hear them called ‘catchment’ areas. These are each served by a specific school or schools.
- Your designated school may not be the one nearest to your home address.
- Some schools include living in the designated area as a priority in their oversubscription criteria. This is the criteria they will use to decide who should have a place.
- Entitlement to transport to all schools will be decided by Cornwall Council based on whether or not:
- your address is in the schools’ designated area; or
- it is your nearest school.
- If you want to identify the designated school or schools for your address:
- go to our admissions webpage; or
- contact the School Admissions Team.
Home address
- A child can only have one address which will be used in relation to
- admission to school; and
- travel assistance entitlement.
- The address should be the one where the child spends most of their time.
- We may also need to ask you for evidence that the address you are applying from is your main residence. Evidence you provide could be, for example:
- a copy of a recent Council Tax bill showing your name and the home address; or
- a copy of your driving licence; or
- a utility bill (gas, electricity, water) showing both your name and home address.
- If there is a disagreement between parents/carers about the home address:
- you should sort this out before applying;
- you may need to get legal advice;
- the Council or the admission authority will decide which address to use if you cannot agree.
When parents/carers disagree about changing schools
- you should sort out any disagreement before applying;
- only one application can be processed for each child;
- we can only offer one school place.
If the following happens:
- someone with parental responsibility applies for a place. Another person with parental responsibility tells us they do not agree; or
- more than one parent/carer submits an application;
we will either:
- carry on processing the application or one of the applications; or
- tell you we cannot process your application/s until you reach an agreement or get a court order. You may need to reapply later.
When we decide what to do we will take into account the following:
- your child’s home address;
- the living arrangements;
- your child’s view;
- other relevant factors;
- what is considered to be in your child’s best interests.
Fraudulent applications
- If you use false or misleading information on your application to gain advantage in the admission process, such as using a false address, we might:
- start an investigation which could lead to criminal proceedings;
- ask you to provide evidence to help with an investigation;
- share your information to help with preventing and detecting fraud;
- withdraw the offer of a school place.
- You must tell us immediately if your circumstances change.
Privacy Notice
Please visit the Privacy Notice page for information on how your data will be handled.
