thinking they have used my address to gain a school place?

[bostonbaby]

We bought this house at the end of last year.
It is very close to an excellent, very much over subscribed school.
The couple we bought it from had a little kids and we're moving to the next (cheaper, not good schools) area along for a bigger house to fit all their kids in.
Not had any mail for them as assuming they had a redirect set up.
This week we've suddenly had a few bits for them. Including a 'to the parent/guardian of xxx' from the outstanding school
It seems they have applied from this address rather than their own, where they stand no chance of getting in.
What should I do? I feel like returning it to school and saying they haven't lived here since December but then I feel sly. Then I think another child will have missed out on their rightful place. And why should they move to a considerably cheaper area and still get the perks of the more expensive one? My child hasn't missed out on this btw but they have 4 kids now guaranteed a place in that school from this.
Wwyd?

Having Just double checked, the admissions website says you must use the address you are living at when places are decided (mid april)
So they had moved 4 1/2 months before then.

Yabu. There's a poor child who thinks s/he's going to a certain school in September. It's nearly the end of term, possibly too late to get another place elsewhere. Maybe the parents were a bit sneaky, but it's not the kid's fault. Just write "return to sender", pop it in the post box and forget about being the LEA police.

Are you going to tell the school?

I asumed from the OP that the child going into reception was the eldest and the other 3 were younger but would benefit from the sibling rule.

I've known people who've moved closed to outstanding schools and then moved further out than the last admitted distance straight after the child has started reception (but wanted younger siblings to get in at the expense of closer non siblings) which is galling but acceptable under the rules. What the OP's sellers have done is breaking the rules and depriving not 1 but 4 children in due course of places they should have.

^^ I agree with Faithless. Although I'd just forward the letter to the new house.

I think you are a bit over invested in this now that you have gone and checked the admin policy.
Just send the letter back for gods sake and don't give it another thought like most people would do.
No need to come on MN making a draa out of it.

They already have 4 children, and the eldest is only just coming up to school age? Are you sure? How do you know the exact ages of all their children?

Maybe it is about a settling in session for their second child, and the eldest already goes there?

Anyway, I would just return the letter to the sender with "No longer at this address" written on it.

It is up to the school/LA to investigate if any rules have been broken, or any fraud committed.

Having Just double checked, the admissions website says you must use the address you are living at when places are decided (mid april)
So they had moved 4 1/2 months before then.

I suppose its possible that they completed their application before the end of November & decided to hedge their bets in case the house had not sold by April.

Or they are trying to get past the Admissions criteria & hadn't counted on you receiving their post.

Return to sender OP. Although I'm curious now about what would happen if you did wish to move your children to that school & applied from your current address...

How do you know what the letters say? I wouldn't say anything because it affects a child.

Re the big posh house and big posh school comments its generally quite the reverse (or at least it is in this area). The houses in the catchment area are priced at a premium and therefore often its a choice between little not v posh house in good catchment area or bigger "posher" house out of catchment area.

I agree it's a bit sneaky and does feel like cheating. However I would probably just pop in the post box with 'return to sender' and let school deal with it.

also if they are out of catchment they may not get the younger siblings in anyway. I was told once we moved that dd2 might not get into dd1 current school as we were out of catchment and its v oversubscribed. we moved dd1 to our closest school so they would be at same school

We all know how crap administration can be in places. they could well have updated the school but they still sent it to the wrong address.

It took three attempts to change an address at the bank with a credit card. they still sent it to the wrong address.

I'd send it back to the school with "not at this address" on it.

YANBU I'm sorry but i do think this is a bit sneaky and they should have updated the form when they moved. It doesn't feel right that they have, in a way, manipulated a school place. It would be a different situation if the child was already at the school and then they moved but to submit the admission form and then to move but not update their details especially as the process hadn't closed is just wrong in my book - sorry. Some other family will have missed out.

I would return to sender "no longer at this address".

I do have some sympathy, as in our area, you can't apply for a place from an address you will be living in in the future, you have to be living in it at the time you apply. A woman my DC1's DD did a sports class had this issue. She was renting near Outstanding School A, and buying a house near Outstanding School B. She called up and explained she wouldn't be living near school A when her DD started school, or even by the time the offers were made - she was moving in the february.

The council explained that "sales fall through" and they've had people pull the "well, we were going ot move but the sale fell through" after putting down the other address. So she applied to both schools from her old address, was given a place at Outstanding school A. She was told she could go on the wait list for places at school B from the April after the offers, but then while she was now living well within the area they had offered places to, not enough people turned down their place and she didn't get a place before the September start (when she decided she wasn't prepared to move her DD once settled).

But when she accepted the place, she got a lot of stick from the school and other parents who thought she'd played the system, she was worried at one point they'd take her place at school A away but still not give her a place at school B.

So the previous owners might well have correctly applied in the October when the applications started, but then not managed to change the address, or just didn't. In most areas, they only have to prove they were living there over the time the applications were open, and they will have documents to back that up for October. Moving subsquently wouldn't lose them the place in many areas - I think you were lucky though, I know many parents who stalled house sales until after January to avoid this situation, you might have found your chain slowing for months if they hadn't been prepared to take the risk!

I'd return to sender and write on the date they moved out. Let the school take it from there.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for them if they've been deliberately bending the rules and it's cost another child their rightful place at the school.

However, in my LEA, if your child is offered a place at an oversubscribed school, they check the address against council tax and electoral roll details and ask for furthur proof of address. So it may be that there's been a mix up with this letter but the child may have a legitimate offer based on the new address.
e.g. bulge class / fewer reception age kids living nearby this year / medical or social factors that you're unaware of.

Why would you withhold information relating to someone else's child? Bloody weirdo. If you have the parents new cheap address then send it there if not RTS.

I understand peoples frustration re limited school places but you have no idea what they wrote on their aplication, they could have got the place perfectly legitimately and here you are, essentially twating about with their child's education. It's could have come to you in an admin error!

Googling the admissions page.... get a hobby!!

I would just forward it to their new house.

I don't know the exact ages but we did visit the property a few times and their eldest is the same age as my youngest.

I think I'll pass it on to the solicitors who handled their sale to pass on to them.
Like somebody said, the little girls probably excited and got her uniform and everything for her new school.

What would happen if I wanted to move my children to that school somebody asked? Probably not a lot! I have 3 children in different years so the likelihood of places in the correct years coming up and working their way down the waiting list to me would be unlikely. We moved to this house from around the corner so in terms of schools, we would be in the same situation applications wise now we've moved as we were before

It*

YY to contact the school not just forward to the new address (otherwise the school won't be any the wiser and potentially 4 children miss the chance of a place)

I know that houses near a good school here will add at least 30K to the asking price to a comparable one.
If I'd spent the extra money I'd be pretty pissed off if a parent deliberately lied about an address,

They must've paid for six months of mail redirection, it's not the OPs responsibility to sort out their post.
Though I'd take the letter in and say "Oh dear, it hasn't gone to their new address and it looks official" then the school can sort it out.

Is there any chance they've applied to a nearer school though? Or is there only one offer made?

Either way, they know if they've moved out of catchment .

I was also thinking what midnightvelvet01 if their child is registered at your address where would that leave you.

Personally, I would probably ring the admissions dept at the council and tell them. But I do always feel very strongly about this sort of thing.

I'd just redirect it to their new address.

I'd return to the school marked not at this address since x date.

But is could just be an error.

I declined dd's state school place and kept getting letters from school re intro meetings. Took numerous calls to school and LA to get it sorted.

Doesn't anyone remember the thread started by someone who got allocated a school despite proving numerous times they lived somewhere else. yet the LEA kept refusing to alter the details and the school had the old address. despite the proof of address.

don't assume it was deliberate