Cheating school admissions. Wrong I know but needs must.

You say that the schools in your DPs catchment area are not massively subscribed-if that is the case why not make an honest application? The choice in schools is a myth if you want to go to an oversubscribed school, but if they have places they want pupils (extra pupil means extra funding)and you stand a good chance of getting a place.
I would visit the schools, find out what would suit your DC and put your reasons on the application. If there is no room on the form write a letter to go with it.Find out about the pastoral care and if it is a strength of the school put it forward as suiting your DC who is quiet and sensitive.If the school has a real family feel, play the one parent card and say that your DC would benefit from it. In other words make a strong application. Don't be negative about the schools you don't want to go to (don't mention them), just be positive about the one you want.
Ask the LEA for the the numbers of how many applied last year and how many got in. If everyone who applied got a place you stand an excellent chance-if 50 failed to get a place then there isn't a lot of point in my suggestion.

We moved house into a grammar school catchment area once we knew DS1 had passsed the 11+.This was after the closing date for applications but before places were allocated.They asked for evidence of electoral roll change , medical card ,utility bills,driving licence and bank statemnt.It may be easier for you because you will not be on their radar.Do you know if they run addresses past the primary school though ?
In your situation I really can't see you have anything to lose though !

Please don't lie about it, that is not setting a good example and is adding to the unfairness of the system for other people. One valid way to applying legitimatly by actaully living at the catchement address is you doing a 6 months house swap with your partner till the admissions thing is closed, then you can move back to your house if you don't both live there together by them. I wouldn't be impressed though but I can't judge my kids are not even at primary yet, hence my suggestion. I know people who also didn't get siblings in the same school and that really is not a good thing to deal with in year 7, to be honest by year 8, many sensitive sweethearts have discovered a tougher side just be being in the secondary school environment.

My friends dd didn't get into a school in her caTCHMENT AREA THIS ALLOCATION, AND IF WE KNEW SOMEONE HAD TAKEN THAT PLACE (bollox, sorry caps) by lying, we would be very pissed off indeed. For my friend, this now means, her 2 eldest dd's will be going to different schools, involving more driving around in the mornings and afternoons.

Why not move in with your partner? Please tell us why you can't do that yet?

Also, perhaps work on your sons sensitivity issues? Is there a drama group he could join? Work on his self esteem as opposed to just writing him down as "sensitive" and therefore closing down lots of life to him .

Just a thought

The problem is twofold.

As Seeker says, it will affect your son's social life. He will have to keep lying to his friends and will find it difficult to maintain a social life out of school. If he is sensititive and a likely target for bullies, living a lie will be a horrendous thing for him to do.

And you are accepting that your son is learning from you that looking after number one is the thing to do even if that involves telling a lie. So the day he gets the sack for having lied in his CV, you won't really have anything to complain about: you taught him that.

It's not just about moral grounds: the potential for later trouble seems fairly high to me.

i say look after number one and that is do what is right for your son.

You are getting lots of support OP...of course if you did one of these posters' kids out of a place by fibbing they would be singing a different song!

Sorry - got confused. My sympathies are totally with the OP.

Sympathies for the OP. Horrible situation to be in. I'd echo what other posters have said and try everything possible that's legitimate, before resorting to underhand tactics. If none of that is possible, then I'd try and do what's in the best interests of my child.

Seeker - maybe it is an 'I'm Alright Jack Attitude' but surely that's the kind of attitude most parents have in regards to their children. I know few people who would jeopardize their children's education and happiness for lofty principles. Furthermore, the system in this country in regards to education really doesn't work. So, unless we have radical changes in education, then people learn to play the system, as they do in all areas of life, not just education.

Whilst some kind of equal utopia would be lovely, it's not reflective of true life.

er, the OP isn't Seeker, MrsG, Seeker is getting very draughty on her incredibly moral high ground ...

Seeker - I totally sympathise. If you can't physically move there, can you get utility bills/council tax/child benefits in your name at that address? Your son is your priority, and he has a genuine need. (I know so many people who cheated on primary entry for no good reason, simply a more 'prestigious' primary , that your case seems positively straightforward)

I think you are in a terrible position
Seeker - I understand the points you are making because the system does suck but unless your child has suffered from being bullied it is hard to understand the awful effects upon the individual - I certainly didn't - it destroys their very happiness and self worth
Two thoughts - one positive and one negative
Some secondary schools ask for a counil tax form to be sent in on application
But - if your son has been bullied look at the admissions criteria - their may be a criteria for exceptional circumstances or pastoral need - you can apply specifically on these grounds but you will need supporting documentation from the primary school and if possible the ed psych
Good luck

"Chances are we will be moving there sometime in the near future"

But not before October.

He's already her partner, and he's already offered to let them use the address - he might be hoping she suggests moving in anyway!

"Darling, I would love for us to live together - that way little Billy will go to a better school"

I think I would move in your partner. That way you're not lying about anything.

If by lying, or by "knowing somebody" (not sure how that works) you get your child into a school that they do not, by use of the proper admissions criteria, have a right to a place at, you are depriving the child whose rightful place that was. If that's not an example of I'm all Right Jack and Sod the Rest of You then I don't know what is. And I think it's outrageous. Yes, do the right thing by your child. But that means making the best of what is legitimately available, not teaching them to get what they want by any means possible.

I applied for the school I thought would suit my son better, we are outwith the catchment area, but we are in a funny catchment area in that we are in one council area and the school they are supposed to be in no one goes to from here but there is some sort of age old agreement they are in a catchment for another school in another council area, confused I am.

So I applied for DS to go to another school that a few here go to that I thought would be better for him, bit more academic and more rounded.

Didn't get a place, so DS goes to the one they all go to from here but still in another council area,(holiday dates get confusing as DD is at school in this council area). Its a more rural school catchment area covers loads of local villages and most lads seem to go back to working on farms or in trades. They don't even teach history.

BUT>>> he loves it and is doing so well, he is excelling in almost every subject and has discovered rugby, (never quite got football which seemed to alienate him from the other boys). Quiet glad he is their as all the kids from here go their and he is positivly flourishing like OP I thought he would be eaten alive but no it seems to have brought him on. He even had the confidence to make £2.51 on red nose day by going around at break and dancing to get money I would never have believed it he was so quiet.

Sorry to go on, but just wanted to tell a positive tale.

Not really seeker (if it was my comment that you are replying to) you just have to do whats best for your child and what you are capable of - as it were it worked for us and I know of at least 3 families who have appealed on the grounds that my ds got in.

I was fortunate enough to get a place without a lie but i think if id have had to lie I would.

I'd move in with him, sounds like the push you both need to make a commitment and if it doesn't work and your boy already has his place you can't be called a liar.

So I'm all right Jack and sod the rest of you. Wonderful example to the children. The world is in safe hands.

Don't cheat. Find a way to do it legally, or chance your luck - you never know, you might get in.

My ds1 got a surprise place at a non-catchment school this year. If he hadn't got in and we found out about someone who'd cheated to be allocated a place, we would be livid.

Dn't forget that even if it is later, after your child has started, that someone shops you or the school/LEA find out - even then, even when your DS is at the school, the school can still ask you to leave because of cheating the system.

Hang on a minute ......my eldest 2 children go to a school well out of our catchment area- we wouldnt have got in had it not been for knowing someone - nobody is bothered where they live or anything - the trickiest part was keeping it under wraps until August- but I got my children in and rightly or wrongly thats what floats my boat!

Miserable situation, Grapefruit. Wish you luck - you'll need it to battle Herts. CC, the swines.