Lying to get into non catchment school...

[Thelovecats]

Not really an AIBU, more wanting to know if this is really a thing people do.
We live on an island, where everyone gets a place at their catchment school. recently I have found that someone I know is about to arrange a 'rental' of a property in their chosen catchment and is fabricating a story about splitting up with their husband in order to get their kid into their chosen school (they have already been refused the original application).
So, I'm curious, how common is this elsewhere? What happens if they get found out? I'm not bothered by people applying to whatever school they like, but I don't think I could lie to get a place. Could you? Have you? I don't want to discuss this with anyone I know IRL because I don't want to get the person into trouble.

Our local, and very oversubscribed, secondary had to implement the rule that siblings only got admissions preference if the family were still living in the catchment area. Did away with many people doing short term rentals just to get the oldest child in, while still giving siblings who live locally preferred entry. Seems a reasonable solution.

It happens here (Edinburgh) but the one I know most about the family actually went to the extent of renting and living in a house for a year (I think they rented theirs out) which is a lot of upheaval. I think there have been other cases of applying from grandparents addresses as well.

I wouldn't do it, and I have been in the situation of having to submit an appeal for an out of catchment sibling place (when we applied for a place for our elder child, several local schools were up for closure so we went for the one we liked best, thought most likely not to close, and near us. When the catchment boundaries were done for the closure we ended up in a different catchment and had to endure being on the waiting list until quite late in the day.). I was very worried about getting a place but wouldn't have lied to do so.

Priority here is catchment, then out of catchment siblings, then out of catchment based on distance. Unless the council prioritise for some other reason (for example I know someone who got a particular out of catchment school for the pupil support they needed). The RC schools prioritise similarly but can also prioritise on baptisms if numbers are tight. There is a sad face story in the local paper about this just now.

Nope, it's not something I've heard of being done locally. We live in a little village near Warwick where practically everyone knows everyone. It would be incredibly difficult to pull off a trick like that here I think (though not impossible, if you went to the extreme of renting a house for a year).

We're lucky; we bought our house based on it's catchment area, DS1 left 2 years ago and moved to the Junior school which, again, we liked when we bought, and this September DS2 will start at the same school. 5 years down the line we wouldn't have been so fortunate as there are 400 houses being built between our home and the school. God knows what lengths parents will go to when that happens. It's a great school, exceptional compared to the majority nearby. I can believe that some parents might lie to ensure their child got a place, but couldn't do it myself.

I agree it is common (though no idea about your location specifically).

In London, it is getting harder and harder to pull off. For example, many areas now have the rule that if you own a property, and rent a house/flat, then if you have lived at the owned address (i.e. it wasn't always an investment) they will use that address for admissions. Obviously, if the house is so far away it's obviously a genuine move (you've rented out the house in Leeds when relocating to Richmond) then it is different.

This is designed to stop exactly the scam you are explaining.

Not living at the property at all is usually caught very fast through council tax records and survellience at suspect properties.

what do they intent to do when the school visit them prior to the kid starting the year?! it's not only immoral, it's stupid.

French not all do home visits - only 1 out of 8 in my area do it

My ds got third choice school, I couldn't understand when one of his friends got our first choice as they lived further away. Turns out his mum said she'd split up from her husband and was living with her parents. For months she left her car outside of her mothers and her husband would ferry her back and forth between houses. I decided against shopping her as I didn't think they'd care or do anything about it. Luckily my ds got in on the waiting list just 3 days before my appeal hearing.

I didn't sleep for months, worrying but at least I can hold my head up now.

Someone did it here last year. Used the grandparents' address to get their DD into what is considered to be the best school in town. Then made the mistake of bragging about how "clever" they were on Facebook. How stupid can you get?

I'd like to see lying scamming parents who do this charged with fraud then receive maximum publicity when they're named and shared in court.

Surely the problem is because schools are so different? If you have a Technology Academy and a Sports College and a Music Free School blah de blah de blah then people will want to choose. If all schools were more or less the same, properly funded with decent facilities, then children would go to the nearest one.

It's crazy that so many families are competing for school places. Competing for an education FFS!

Funnily enough our school has just changed rules to favour siblings more than it used to.

Disclaimer: doesn't have children.

sparechange Siblings at different schools means more school running, no matter how you cut the mustard. And people who have good reason to move should not face artificial barriers set up by local councils who are there to serve.

This was absolutely rife when I was growing up in my area, everyone wanted their children to go to the secondary schools in the next town, because the ones in my city were dire.

I know of loads of families who tried to pull things, including buying a plot of land to build on and then selling it, and using relatives addresses...

I was lucky enough to get a place in this high school but my sister two years later wasn't. I remember one girls mother walked all the way from my front gate to the school (which is half an hours bus ride away!) with a metre measure stick, just to prove my house was further away than hers because her daughter didn't get in! My mum went mad!

Surely if you do actually live in a temporary home you've rented to get your child into a school in that catchment then you are not doing anything wrong? If you go to the hassle of renting your own house out and renting another one then that seems legit. I know schools check council tax records and electoral roll so it would be hard to make it up wouldn't it? Or am I being naive? It's not a problem where I live but I know friends in London have terrible trouble getting places anywhere near where they live never mind the catchment area.

People do rent houses - so Mrs X prefers a good school where houses are "££££ more expensive usually fully supported by childs family so a good school - cheaper to rent tiny flat in catchment area than to move DC get best education and family move back to 4 bed outside catchment. Poorer schools in poorer areas will always have lower standards as the children deal with poverty family breakdowns health and housing. Its a sad state as no school should be a bad school.

i know someone who has rented in catchment to get a place
i also know someone (different area) who has listed her brother's address for this year's round of admissions, and who lives under an entirely different local authority

TBH i have considerable sympathy with the first family, as they lived in an area where catchments can be as small as 200m, and despite living half to one mile from a handful of schools, they ran a real risk of getting no place whatsoever, as happened to many other families in that area

Here in scotland children with special.needs get priority. This includes children with english as a second language. Even although they may have fluent english. This year this means children in catchment with siblings in school are denied places as the school is popular with polish families all over town.

Depends what you mean by not doing anything wrong Wigfield. Not technically against the rules in some areas, no (though it is in others ). Morally questionable? I guess that depends on personal morals.

In this case they have no intention of living in the property, it's a 'rental' arrangement just to get a couple
Of bills registered there.
Anyway, I won't be saying anything, I was just curious if I would find anyone to defend their actions- Apparantly not!

I live less than a mile from 4 schools and we won't get into any of them. One has a catchment of around 300 metres. That's like 4 surrounding roads.

It is so tempting to try and break the rules but we won't. We now have to move from a house and area we love and go god knows where by next January. We have no idea what we're going to do.

This is London obviously

Hex it's not just a London issue, believe me!