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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

201 replies

bostonbaby · 12/06/2015 10:24

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?

OP posts:
keepitsimple0 · 12/06/2015 18:57

My child missed out (and I know he would've had the place as he's top of the reserve list), because somebody else lied. How is that fair?

us too. we more suspect rather than have proof though.

I despise these school cheats. I am also surprised at how broadly supported such people are on MN.

ShadowFire · 12/06/2015 19:00

If the school are sending out letters to the old address now, the child will almost certainly have a place.

Primary school offer day was 16th April. My LEA said parents had to accept the offer within 2 weeks or the place could be withdrawn. I don't know what deadlines are like for accepting places where OP lives, but it's surely not going to be 2 months after the offer. And most LEAs have online systems where school places can be applied for and accepted online.

So anyway, if the school's sending letters to parents now, I'd assume that a place has been offered and accepted.

Gileswithachainsaw · 12/06/2015 19:04

The second round not long been done. Some even have a third round.

help14993 · 12/06/2015 19:07

Just mind your business and understand that if anything was done slightly underhand it was with the good of their kids in mind. In the nicest possible way just wind your neck in and worry about your own family, not to mention they may still be close to neighbours around you who might not want to make buddies with the new neighbours who ratted out their old ones. Just don't get involved, who wouldn't want a better school for their children?

ShadowFire · 12/06/2015 19:07

keepit - fully agree with you about parents lying to get their children into desired schools. I think a lot of people forget about the child at the top of the waiting list who was wrongfully denied a place at a school because of someone else's lies. And yes, the letter arriving at OP's home looks suspicious.

But it is possible that this is an administrative error on the school's part, and the child got a legitimate place with the correct address e.g. because there's a bulge class this year, or the school was undersubscribed.

NeedAScarfForMyGiraffe · 12/06/2015 19:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/06/2015 19:10

Needascarf - there is a post just above you on this thread.

princesssofiasmum · 12/06/2015 19:13

One of my friends moved during the admissions process (just down the road) and has had to ring the school twice as they keep sending mail to the old address. She is legitimately in the school but the school seem incompetent at updating their mailing list. The only reason she didn't miss her opportunity to accept the place and the intro evening is she called them to check arrangements. just saying it might not be deliberate. Oh and in her case the redirection didn't work as mail was addressed to the child who was not listed on the redirection

Narnia72 · 12/06/2015 19:37

The thing is, if they've legitimately applied and kept the relevant authorities informed, then it's an admin error and the school will rectify.

If not, they've cheated.

Either way, rts, with the date of their departure and let them sort it.

I live in an area of significant school application fraud and it's rubbish. Loads of local kids who didn't get in walking past the school to go to the (slightly) less good school up the road and all the cheats driving up. I've heard all the arguments about "you'd do the same if it was your kid". Actually, no I wouldn't. It makes my shit itch. Also makes for an unhappy and divided playground. I got into the coveted school btw, so don't have a personal axe to grind, just hate what our school application system has become.

ProcrastinatorGeneral · 12/06/2015 19:37

help is prime candidate for the cheating parent then.

It's damn rude and inexcusable.

NeedAScarfForMyGiraffe · 12/06/2015 19:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mintyy · 12/06/2015 19:38

"Just mind your business and understand that if anything was done slightly underhand it was with the good of their kids in mind. In the nicest possible way just wind your neck in and worry about your own family, not to mention they may still be close to neighbours around you who might not want to make buddies with the new neighbours who ratted out their old ones. Just don't get involved, who wouldn't want a better school for their children?"

This is a quite frankly stupid argument. Lying about your address to get a place at an overscribed school is fraudulent, nothing more and nothing less. If this is what the previous occupier has done and if the child has a place at the school on distance grounds then that family deserve to lose their place. Therefore op is quite right to return the letter to the school and let them know that the family moved away from that address some months ago.

You can't just argue "who wouldn't want a better school for their child" and therefore it is ok. That's complete bollocks.

noddyholder · 12/06/2015 19:40

Just leave it The post about the 'perk' of a better area is Shock Everything that is wrong about this country

JassyRadlett · 12/06/2015 19:50

Just mind your business and understand that if anything was done slightly underhand it was with the good of their kids in mind.

Yep. Fuck the other kids they've done out of a place.

Northernlurker · 12/06/2015 20:58

I wouldn't give it to the school. What's done is done. Why make some poor kid lose their place just so the mothers of mumsnet can feel righteous.

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/06/2015 21:01

It isn't to feel righteousness. It is so the poor kid who lost a place gets if (if there have been shenanigans )

Eastpoint · 12/06/2015 21:17

The child may have a place regardless of address if has ever been looked after (ie adopted or in care) or if there is a medical reason. Either of these scenarios may apply - forward it or return to sender but mind your own business.

AyMamita · 12/06/2015 21:35

If the child has a place for other reasons than address, as Eastpoint said, it won't do any harm to return the letter to the school with "moved out Dec 2014" on it.

ShadowFire · 12/06/2015 21:52

Why make some poor kid lose their place just so the mothers of mumsnet can feel righteous

And what about the poor kid who applied using correct details but missed out on being offered a place at that school and is first on the waiting list?
Why is it okay for that child to lose out on a school place they're legitimately entitled to because another parent has lied about their address?

My DS didn't get a place in our oversubscribed local school. He was the third child to be refused. I'd be furious if I thought that he'd been denied a place, or pushed further down the waiting list, by other parents lying about their address.
If a parent lies about their address to get their child into an oversubscribed school, then they've stolen a school place from a child with a valid claim to that place. It's not about "feeling righteous".

(And yes. I'm aware that this may not be the case in the OP's scenario. It's possibly an administrative error. But if the school's used the old address because of an administrative error, returning the letter to the school isn't going to cause problems for the child and their family)

MayPolist · 12/06/2015 22:01

Why is it from the school and not the LEA?

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/06/2015 22:03

Letters re settling in will be from the school may

MayPolist · 12/06/2015 22:04

why haven't they had an offer letter, I wonder?

ButterflyUpSoHigh · 12/06/2015 22:05

Return it to the school. If they have done nothing wrong then no problem. If they have cheated then they deserve to lose the place. My LEA removed 10 places this year of cheats.

PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom · 12/06/2015 22:06

Well the redirection has just run out.

But in my area if you apply online and accept your first choice online you don't get it in hard copy.

ShadowFire · 12/06/2015 22:14

Plus, if they did update their address with the LEA and it is an administrative error by the school, then the offer letter would have gone to the correct address.