Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

This is way more common than you think. A few mums I know are doing this for primary places, mostly by using a grandparent's address. I think it's disgusting but I'd fall out with a couple of friends if I said anything...

Ah, but one of you is a solicitor who has specialised for years, if not decades, in the admissions system and repeatedly gives helpful and knowledgeable advice on education threads. Those who sit on appeals panels tend to always agree with prh, or prh with them, lending further credibility to their ongoing posting.

And the other is you.

Nope.

There will be set criteria eg being baptised, attending a certain number of services etc.

Whether you are of another religion or an atheist, if you do those things, you qualify

You paid over odds for a house in catchment, you financially bought advantage
she temporarily moved into a new house,incurring associated costs, to buy advantage
Well, her kid was smart enough to get a place, and they’ve been tutored too. Like most other pupils

No one is going to be arsed about morals …if it’s legal….then it’s legal
Absolutely this.
I'd stay in my own lane personally. I'd hate it to backfire on me in the future and end up being ostracised at the play ground and the potential implications for my child.

The relatives are moving into her old house, not the rented one, to create an illusion of her moving out. I doubt they will even pay any bills!
None of your buisness you dont even know if they are paying bills or not. Youve just said so.This means you havent got the whole story and are filli g in your own blank spaces. Stay in your own lane..

Glad you aren’t my friend. You sound jealous and a tad bitchy. I’d be fuming if my friend (or neighbour) was quizzing my child for info to use against me.

Also you seem at pains to point out that the other child maybe isn’t ’grammar school material’ (this makes you sound vile) as they only just passed the exam - despite then saying a pass is the binary mark?!

I know someone who changed religion so her children could go to good schools!@@.

All these sharp elbows.

What a shame we don't have a system that offers all children a quality education.

To me, she is doing the best for her child, which is something all parents will do if they have the means. If you want to be angry at someone it should be the government, why do people have to move house in the country to give their kids the best, all schools should be at a standard where any child can succeed but nope, the government has created a class society whereby all schools are not equal so parents have to spend over the odds if the can afford it to provide their kids for the bare neccesities

OP, I don’t get it. Your house hasn’t moved. No one has stolen a place from you. If your neighbour didn’t rent that place closer to the school then in all likelihood someone else with a child who wanted to be in catchment would have. That’s the way it always is with rental properties next to popular schools.

Life can be unfair at times! I wouldn't bother reporting it. Maybe others are doing the same who knows!

If this child has not really moved house but only ‘moved’ to get into a good school, then that sounds like fraud. I would in principle not report it. But this situation touches your family personally: your own child (and two siblings) may suffer from what the other family are doing. Report it, OP. Stand up for your children - they may lose out on a school place that really should be theirs.

you sound like a jobsworth tbh and you’re speculating a lot, not sure what her family being refugees even has to do with it… comes across very jealous.

Surely the catchment area will change each year depending on how many children are of the age to apply so you may well have both gotten in anyway?

Great! That makes two qualified solicitors in this exchange then.

I think you are overreacting tbh. Firstly the school places aren't announced until March 2026 so that is a long time to be annoyed! Secondly do you know if your child was born in a low or high birth rate year? High birth rate will reduce the catchment area. Thirdly priority is given to children under social care and then the sibling connection so it may not even matter!

Nothing might come of your report but I would bring it to the attention of the board. It's maybe not illegal but it isn't fare . It's bucking the system and I'd make mention that as there are a few places you'd not be happy if your child missed out due to her activity.

Not sure it’s fraud but certainly morally wrong.
But it happens a lot.
We had a very wealthy neighbours son suddenly get accepted into Grammar school despite missing the cut off mark by a lot.
im assuming a healthy donation to the school.
It goes in believe you me !

Mind your business, she found a way around the system. Leave them alone

Did you pay for a tutor to help your child with the 11 plus? Am I correct in saying your child hasn’t even taken the exam so may not even pass?

You also contradict yourself when people have called you for paying over the odds to get in the catchment . One minutes ‘oh boy did we pay for it’ and in the next breath, ‘we’ve lived here for years since kids were infants and it wasn’t a priority/ on our radar’.

Also you have made some big assumptions that their relatives aren’t paying a penny to live there or pay any bills. You have no idea if this is true or not. The way you talk about them being poor refugees and leaving the UK next year comes across as quite unpleasant IMO.

Legally, yes it is.

This is not a clear cut case of fraud at all. It is not an action that will automatically prevent the child from getting a place at the school, nor one that will fail to stand up to scrutiny in the face of OP making a complaint. The details matter.

Renovations do seem to be used a lot in admissions gaming. A poster earlier in the thread posted this re Barnet

I’m pretty sure you are explaining the law to a lawyer who has spent years sitting on admissions appeal panels here.

ETA: the quote has disappeared. That was to @InterIgnis

It's legal and reporting it will go nowhere but might make you feel morally superior for all of 5 seconds.

I would