Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

Jesus what kind of a father is that.

@Genevieva@NormasArse not all grammars have that as a criteria. I teach in a grammar where you ‘just’ need to pass the 11+, then it’s done on distance. The score the child got doesn’t affect admissions at my school. There are plenty in my county that do the same thing.

I understand and sympathise with your frustration. Unfortunately, it's unlikely you will receive any support here - you will be demonised for being able to afford to buy a house in the catchment area of a good school. Apparantly it's all down to good fortune, not hard work and sacrifice.

We are also in a grammar area and you are correct, the over subscription criteria varies from school to school. Certainly the majority of selective schools where we are do not look at the actual score (only the handful of super selective schools do that) - the criteria is passing the 11 plus, then children in care then distance (as the crow fly's because let's face it we all fly to school 🙈). Some then prioritise pupil premium next and have dropped the sibling link altogether - the over subscription criteria can change year to year.

Slightly different situation however I am aware of a child being offered a place at a school based upon the father's address. The mum, who was divorced from the father had submitted the father's address because it was closer to the school chosen and the child did spend time there. The child was offered a place at the school and the father reported the mother to the school for using his address - the offer was retracted as a consequence. It went to appeal and the decision was upheld.

School's, or rather Local Authorities, do not take kindly to the system being played.

The catchment area will fluctuate. I believe this year is a low birth year which may help, however, the number of children moving from independent schools to decent state schools' is also on the increase given the VAT situation.

It's a horrible scenario all round unfortunately, good luck with whatever you decide.

Well, different schools have different admissions criteria. So your experience is not necessarily relevant to the OP.

OP: this is not acceptable by many LA’s who do not accept a rented address if the applicant owns a house in the same council tax area.

Report them. The decision is then with the LA.

Good luck to your Dc

The scores definitely made a difference at our local grammar. DS passed, as did two of his friends who lived another 4 miles further away (all out of catchment). The other two were offered places straight away, whilst DS was put on the reserve list.

This really isn’t unusual. A previous poster has mentioned Bucks already. In addition, at least some schools in North Yorks and Lincolnshire have a system where there’s a basic pass mark, and then places are allocated based on the over subscription criteria which don’t take any account of the actual mark gained.

Croydon also state that where an applicant owns or rents a property where they previously lived they must explain and evidence the permanence of their house move:

Is the house nicer than yours OP? Ahh well nevermind.

It goes on points first. If your child scored higher, they will be above their child on the list.

Surely if it’s a grammar school the 11+ result takes priority over the distance from school for all children within the designated catchment?

It’s unfair but in the cold light of day tomorrow, read some of your posts - if this were read out (to work colleagues, for example) surely you would cringe? Reporting this off the back of information you grilled a 10 year old for is not becoming.

This is a grammar school near me

wouldn’t necessarily deem it unavailable to the family.

that implies it could make it unavailable just not "necessarily"?

Camden will also do further checks and need an explanation why your owned properly is being rented out when they investigate.
Sure. But further checks and explanation is different to saying you have to sell

@WickedlittledancerI work in a grammar where the entrance criteria is pass of the local county 11+ test, then distance. Exact scores don’t come into it. This county is a pretty even mix of super selective (scores based entrance) and just needing a pass.

https://www.croydon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-10/croydon-local-authority-address-of-convenience-protocol.pdf

@puppymaddness here we are. Para 4.2. Specifically the sentence about renting out a property that the child had formerly lived in wouldn’t necessarily deem it unavailable to the family.

Camden will also do further checks and need an explanation why your owned properly is being rented out when they investigate. They aren’t as explicit as Croydon but I’d imagine that if you own a house in the local area and are renting it out to family while you start a rental contract the day before the admissions deadline the explanation for why you needed to move and move then is going to have to be reeeeeaaaallllly good if you want to convince their admissions department that you aren’t trying to pull a fast one.

I have to agree with this. You're only morally affronted because it potentially affects you.

You "gamed" the system financially by buying a very expensive house specifically in the school catchment

She gamed it by renting... If she hadn't rented that property, maybe another family with a child the same age would have

Other parents game it by going to church for a few years

All as bad as each other, and all contributing to educational inequality

I say this as someone who sends one of their children to private school (not for academic reasons however but for SEN) so I'm gaming the system in my own way.

Surely private school is cheaper than buying an entire house 🤣🤣
I think if someone’s that dedicated you should just let them have it though

If it's any consolation kids at grammar schools don't do better than non-selective schools. And the brightest kids may actually not get as good grades as they might at a non-selective school.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/28/english-regions-dominated-by-grammar-schools-do-not-improve-grades-study-says

Middle class kids will do well wherever they go because their parents are motivated to ensure they do well.

I think we should just do away with all selection and use the money saved on the exam system to invest in all schools in the area.

Well said! So sick of postcode school places - all kids deserve a good education, not just the ones whose parents can afford the nice areas! Been like this in my area for years - horrible system!

Would this constitute admissions fraud? It feels incredibly unfair that someone with £40k to spare for rent can effectively buy their way into a top grammar school, especially when their child didn't perform particularly well in the exam (despite being tutored for hours every day).
Rich people try to buy their children a better education? Color me shocked.

I'm disbelieving because people are making all kinds of claims that would be wildly unreasonable policies if they were true. You said:

one of the admission criteria clearly states that if, at any point during the child’s time at the school, they change their address to a previous place of residence, they will lose their place at the school

This surely can't be true. The admissions policy may say that this may disqualify you or trigger investigation if they suspect fraud but that's very different.

You quizzed the hell out of that poor kid, didn't you?

The case I’m thinking of involved a family moving 200+ miles for work and the local authority refusing to use the rented address. It was an absolute clusterfuck from what I remember.
I will try and find an authority with that policy but it may take a while.

I know. I was just showing other criteria at different schools.

as other posters have already demonstrated, plenty of schools have their own weird and wonderful admissions criteria to combat abuse of the system. I don’t know why you are so disbelieving when schools are trying to crack down on people trying to find loopholes.

my original post clearly states it’s to avoid admissions fraud, it wouldn’t apply in the case of genuine reasons to move, although these would all be investigated under the criteria.
Other schools have different criteria where even genuine house moves would work against them.