Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hi all, it's that time of year again... we are in the process of applying for schools for our son. And although we haven't left it to the VERY last minute, we have hit a problem.


According to the Lambeth website one piece of documentation we need to provide is our council tax bill. We only get one a year and I think it went in the bin. (Not much forward planning here...) We've lived in our house for 8 years and I can get a screenshot of our council tax account from the Lambeth website... but not sure if this will be sufficient.


My husband called them and they said a utility bill, driving licence, etc would be an OK substitute...but this is not what it says on the website and we have no evidence in writing that someone from Lambeth said this would be OK.


The alternative is to get an affadavit from a solicitor (for payment).


Has anyone got any experience of this? Seems a hell of a lot of hoops to jump through!

I had lost mine too. I phoned lambeth and said it was for the secondary application, she said it could take up to 7 days but I got it in 2 days. So phone now and you should have it by Wednesday. You will also need a driving licence or child benefit, if you get that. You need your child?s passport or full birth certificate- I used a prescription and passport, driving licence and council tax as I don?t get child benefit. Good luck
I just called them and actually managed to speak to someone. She said 5-7 days..but fingers crossed it comes sooner than that. I also had to get a signed letter from the doctor re my son living at our address. I suppose there are people who try and scam the system but they could just check their records and see we have lived in our address for 8 years. Now to decide which schools we want...

What?s this for exactly - particular schools? No mention of needing them for general admissions on southwark?s site. Unless it?s changed in the few years (???) those pieces of ID were presented at the school after a conditional offer had been made.


HP

Maybe Lambeth is different to Southwark? Us Lambeth residents (literally on the border) have to either upload scanned copies of various documents or send them in. Council tax, utility bills, driving licence, proof of address for child... quite a few docs.


https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/school-admissions/proof-of-address-and-date-of-birth-documents

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • OP has perhaps inadvertently provided free advertising for Gails, drawing attention to Dulwich Gails being open on Christmas Day.
    • Staff get taxis in and out and get paid extra (which I think is x2). Some people like to work on Bank Holidays and others don’t. Some people actively avoid Christmas for personal reasons. Long live freedom of choice! 
    • Here is another article from the excellent Special Needs Jungle (SNJ) with tips for responses to the SEND conversation survey. Including shoe horning in EHCPs which they "forget" to ask a question about in the conversation. And living as we do in Southwark with the huge misfortune of 100% academy secondary schools, some thoughts on this and how unlikely inclusion in mainstream is within the current education landscape. Closing date 14 Jan 2026. And please consider a donation to the excellent entirely run by volunteers SNJ. In my view the government could save money by creating some smaller mainstream secondary schools for kids who can cope in primary school but not  with the scale of secondary, and need a calmer less busy setting. The funding would have to be different - it is currently on a per pupil basis which favours larger schools. But it would undoubtedly be cheaper than specialist provision, and the huge cost to individual children and families (emotional and financial) and to society. https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/tips-help-complete-governments-send-conversation-survey-law/ If anyone wants to take a radical step to help their struggling child, my tip is to move far away: these are the best two schools I have ever visited and in a beautiful part of the country. I only wish we'd moved there before it was too late for my son who had to suffer multiple failings at Charter North and then at the hands of Southwark SEND, out of education from February to October in year 10-11, having already suffered the enduring trauma of a very difficult early life, which in combination with ADHD made his time at schools which just don't care so very unbearable for all of us. https://www.cartmelprioryschool.co.uk/ https://settlebeck.org/ As an add on, I would say to anybody considering adoption, please take into account the education battles that you are very much more likely to face than the average parent. First you have schools to deal with, already terrible; then being passed from pillar to post within Southwark Education, SEND, Education Inclusion Team, round and round as they all do their best to explain why they are not responsible and you need someone different, let's hold another multi-agency meeting, never for one minute considering that if they put the child at the centre and used common sense they would achieve a lot more in much less time without loads of Southwark employees sitting in endless meetings with long suffering parents. It is hard to fully imagine this at the start of your adoption journey, full of hope as you are, but truly education is not for the faint hearted, and should be factored into your decision. You'll never hear from people who are really struggling and continue to do so, only from those who've had challenges but overcome them and it's all lovely. And education, the very people who should be there to help, are the ones who make your lives the most hellish out of everything your child and you face.
    • It’s a big problem all over London. I’ve seen it happen in Kennington and Bloomsbury in the last year. I think there has been some progress recently with some key arrests, but you do need to be very careful when walking around with your phone out, especially, as you say, if wearing noise cancelling headphones. Sorry you experienced this 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...