to consider reporting this family for having lied to the school?

[mnbvcx445566]

Two parents and one child. They live nowhere near the primary state school they applied for and got into. I think - am pretty sure - they used a different address to the one they live at.
School very sought after. Shall I report them?

I've looked carefully into myself and this is what I think:

1- I am not jealous. If I had the chance to do the same I would not. I would like my child to go to a great state school so they are lucky for that but I would not play the way they did.

2- If I report them the child will have problems at school (? don't quite know what happens in those cases). The parents might have a breakdown or something having to face the backlash. Obviously they have brains and made their choice and would only pay the consequences of their actions but - I - would have precipitated the situation by reporting them. Maybe the system is so fucked anyway that what they did is not that big of a deal. Surely the school should have done 1000 checks before awarding places so there might be something I do not know. What I do know is that they live miles from that school, which has a very very small catchment area.

3- I should report them because if my child did not get into that school 'legally' I would despise people who took advantage of a loophole and took 'my child's place'.

WWYD?

I am a long-time poster/user but I have opened a different account as I do not want to be recognised. (If I do not want to face them and tell them that they are committing an illegal/immoral action does it mean that I am in the wrong thinking of calling the school anonymously?)

I don't know why people are so worried about the person being reported. If everything's fine then they won't even know about it and nothing will happen.

They don't have to walk around with t shirts sporting the slogan "im.being investigated for fraud"

For all alot of us know we have been reported...im.out of catchment.

It would take five mins for anyone to go to the website check the allocations and see all is legit.

Nope. Never lied to get my kids into school. However in the OP's shoes I would be founding out facts rather than assuming before I rang the LA to inform them about this woman.

I really, really hope you do report, OP. Precisely because you have no direct interest, your motives seem pretty clearly altruistic to me. It might well be my child who is directly disadvantaged by this kind of situation next year. If it did, I'd really hope that somebody without direct interest would do the reporting for me, because it feels harder not easier to me to report if it's your own child affected - to me it would feel quite difficult to anonymously report a parent that I know personally. Reporting somebody less known to me would feel ethically more straightforward because my motives would not be mainly personal, if that makes sense! Just a half-thought-through thought!

pandora yes cos someone who has cheated will just tell you

The L.A. will have access to info the person reporting doesn't. What facts exactly do you think a person can gather other than siblings and possibly adopyion/SN depending on how open the parent is.

The facts op has are no siblings, not adopted, and the fact the school has never come out more than a ten min walk and to the best of her knowledge there is no AN.

That's enough basis for reporting a suspicion

If there are SN that will be recorded. If there is another reason that will be recirded and the parent and child will be fine.

How many people on this thread do you think have actually frauded the LA out of a child's place at school?

Really!

It's not really any of your business, besides you don't know how or why they got that school. Live your life, let others live theirs.

Several people have been the victim

Isn't that several people too Many?

How do you think.its discovered if not due to being reported?

Alot of us potentially could have been also. Only takes one or two for an entire chain of events to take place affecting many many people

Calm down. You don't know for sure these parents have done anything wrong. Going off the flimsy evidence from the OP I'm inclined to still think they haven't.

Question for Bluntness - if you knew someone fairly well (not necessarily as a friend,mbut someone who you just know about through being parents in the same class for a while) and had a sense that they had fraudulently obtained a school place, knowing they wither rented temporarily in the catchment to get the place or used an address they didn't live at, and it;
A. Did affect your child getting a place
B. DId not affect your child but did affect others
Would you report it - in either or both or no cases?

OP is beyond simply knowing they live out of catchment. She knows this family and info about them. She doesn't know 100% about their lives and of course no one does know 100% about anyone else's lives.....but the point is that you don't need to. You need to know enough to have a reasonable and strong enough suspicion to raise the concern with the council. The fact she is on this thread and struggling with it all shows how she isn't taking it lightly. MOst people who report suspicions think hard about it first and don't do it spitefully or without thought.

And remember that the OP isn't reporting to get the place removed. She is reporting so the council can investiagate a suspicion. Her job is to report. That is all. The council have to decide if to investigate or just bin the concern. They have to decide if to seek more info from this parent and having gathered the info they have to decide if to take action and which action from a variety of possibilities. These are all down to the council. They do not lightly remove school places from people. If they do it, there will be very clear evidence and it will be justified and the fault of the fraudulent people.

In the end, we would all like to think the school admissions system works and the rules are applied. The rules are as clear and transparent as possible. None of us would like to lose our child's school place to a fraudulent applicant. We all want the system to work. One of the key ways it works is if people do report suspicions. It only works if everyone who has genuine and significant concerns does report. We need to do it if we have concerns, because one day it might be our child who will benefit from someone else taking the broader view and not just thinking narrowly of ourselves. Fraud and wrong doing isn't just an issue when it has a direct effect on us or our family, it has effects on all of us. It isn't a victimless crime, even if you personally are not the victim. You might be the victim one day, even without knowing and you would be glad if someone else had been willing to put themselves out and simply report a suspicion.

And lastly, there is no need to tell the person you are reporting a suspicion about them. This should not happen at all. It can be done quietly and anonymously if wanted. This isn't because reporting a suspicion is something to be ashamed of, but because it is an awkward thing - this read makes clear how awkward people find it. In the end this isn't personal - it's not an attack on them as an individual. Think of it instead as ensuring the rightful person gets their place.

pandora

She has all the info she is going to get. There is nothing more she can find out. It's not her job to either. Her "job" is to report the L.A. will do the rest.

See the best in people - you have no idea what else might be going on.

If they are hoodwinking the system, its better to let them get away with it than to potentially cause havoc in a situation you don't fully understand.

You don't know all the facts and no-one has the right to judge anyone else. Life isn't fair but live and let live.

Personally I'd mind my own business and concentrate on things that are actually an issue for me/causing me problems/huge state of injustice. You have no idea of the circumstances that they aquired their place at that school. Maybe they JUST moved to a new house? Maybe they are at the school because they have specialist help there and means and provisions to help support a child with additional needs, maybe the child was expelled from a previous school and this was the only school in the area willing to take the child on, maybe the child has an elder sibling already in the school which usually allows second siblings to be placed there. Maybe they appealed when told they weren't given a place there and were given a place because their circumstances allowed it. You don't know, you can't say, and you definitely shouldn't be judging. Have you really got nothing else to worry about than where other people are sending their kids to school? Get a hobby.

Mind ya business

No she doesn't know all the favts. That's what these people at the council are paid to do.

Do you only call the police on a stolen lap top once you have solved the case yourself?

Or do you leave qualified people in charge if the case

I would leave this well alone. I know some families cheat on this, but really, as others have said, you don't have the full circumstances.

I think some people on this site are crazily rule-oriented, to the point that it crosses a line and heads way into the terrain beyond normality. Just because there are laws doesn't mean those laws are right for every case. Don't be too hasty to appoint yourself the judge of everything and everyone. Sometimes tolerance and a blind eye are the correct moral response.

Honestly? It's fuck all to do with you.

Why do you mind so much op? My child goes to excellent school miles out of my catchment area. I didn't lie. I appealed and got in. It has nothing to do with you. IF the parents have lied then the punishment will only affect the child

I know a well off family who wanted their DC to go to a specific primary school that was over-subscribed and they didn't want the hassle of moving. So they rented a tiny flat and got post sent there but otherwise never set foot in it. DC1 got into the school because they had postal 'proof'. Then they gave it up and the others got in on sibling policy.

This is fraud and it is depriving someone who should have got the place. Obviously the OP doesn't know the full story and so in this case it may or may not be ok and I would tread carefully accordingly - but these things do happen all the time, often because people have the money to cheat the system. Every kind of wrong

You don't know the situation fully yourself and I would stay away from reporting them. Nothing would happen even if you did. The LA may be fully aware and they may have moved since the application. I take my 2 boys to a far away school because the local school in our village refused my youngest son's applicationwhen we moved here. He has special educational needs and this is applied for different to a normal school place but my elder sons is done the usual way. They refused my youngest based on his disability. So where one goes the other has to as we don't drive. So we had to find another school with a place willing to take him. For all you know the LA may have helped them find a place.

Absolutely. It isn't our job to be detectives digging about for evidence against a person.
The council dont require a person raising suspicions to have the full story and they aren't interested in what the reporter thinks should happen and the reporter will usually never here anything more about what investigation is or isn't carried out or what action is or isn't taken - because it's not about them and they don't need to know.

A suspicion is simply that. People should have a suspicion founded on something. Usually it is that the person has claimed to lie where they don't or has temporarily moved into the area, always intending to return to another address a short time later. People gather these concerns from hearing chat over a period of time - knowing someone has taken a short term let, but has not sold their own house 5 miles away etc etc.

They suspect the person has rented and intends to move back, or a few months later see that they do move back. This is a resonable suspicion to report. It might turn out there are acceptable reasons - the council will discover those. However, to report a concern, the OP doesn't have to hunt through the Internet or look for clues or be a detective and have 100% proof. She simply has to have a genuine enough concern to take action. And that's what the OP needs to decide - shoes she feel she has a big enough concern? If in doubt, reporting a suspicion cannot result in fraud continuing, but not reporting could.

OP do you have concerns about a fraudulent address being used or the person having temporarily lived in catchment, whilst planning to move back? These are the usual triggers to reports.

Do you know 100 per cent the child isn't adopted? They are entitled to go to which school they wish

My daughters preschool friend travels 40 minutes each way everyday because the local authority thinks that is the best school for them. Don't assume, it was the parents. They may have been given this choice. My daughter did get into an out of catchment outstanding school which we gave up as she got into an excellent independent school. If we had not given that place up, you could be talking about my child and we didn't do anything wrong. Make sure you are 100% correct before ruining someone's week and months ahead.

Ok reading through you do know they aren't adopted