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?)

Consider the situation where a child has not got in to the local schools as they are full and only had option for attending a school 3 miles away?

She doesn't need to be 100 percent sure. She can't be she's not trained not legally entitled to the information.

If the family are not lying NOTHING will happen

I know someone whose Ds goes to an outstanding, oversubscribed primary who lives about 7 miles out of the catchment area. Not adopted, no SN or statement.

I bet there's busybodies at their school thinking they've done the dirty to get a place.

At the end of the day this is not anyones concern but the schools.

They offered this child a place presumably after the usual checks so who are you to interfere in the schools system. The only person to be hurt if you do report would be the child itself. Look after your own affairs and leave those more entitled and qualified to look after theirs.

Live and let leave. I say keep out of it and crack on with your own life. It’s annoying but not your problem

Typo sorry.. live and let live

Bloody hell. You never know who is watching you and judging you, do you?

You can't possibly know enough to be certain that the place was obtained fraudulently from what you say about your relationship with the mother (ie she's not your sister / best friend / NDN)

But report your concerns if you are genuinely worried that another child has lost out on a place at the school that they should have got otherwise

Of course you should share your suspicions with the school. How would you like your child, a genuine applicant, to be denied a place by a fraudulent claim?

Can’t be bothered to read all of the posts but I am aghast at the people who think it’s ok to lie. OP. Report it to you LA. You can do it anonymously. If there is fraud it will be investigated without the family knowing about it at the early stage. If not, no harm done. Mammatj if you think shipping your child off to live with her grandparents will get her into the school you want, you’re wrong. But I’m not going to tell you why because you don’t deserve it.

YABU as this is none of your business.

If we only look to our own affairs and do not concern ourselves with anything that might involve others, one day it will be our turn to lose out because no-one else was willing to think about someone else.
The victims of admissions fraud often don't know they are the victims. They don't know the person who has stolen their place by lying. They end up at a school miles away, with all of the issues associated with that for a whole family. Remember they met the criteria and wee entitled to that place. Only if someone who does know about the fraud going on reports it will the council have the chance to look into it and take action if needed. Any one of us could be that person who is a victim and all of us would like to think our kids would get the place they were entitled to because someone somewhere was prepared to simply send that email - because that is all that is needed.

If OPs concerns turn out to unfounded and the council can see already that they are adopted or SEN or live somewhere different to the OP thinks, the council will know immediately and there will be no investigation at all. End of. If however there are some anomalies then they can look into them. End of.

Couldn't have said it better

My 'best' mate did this & pissed me right off. Rented a flat near the school of her choice which she was totally out of catchment for beforehand. No special needs etc. Lived at the address to 'prove' her application was genuine until the offers were out and then promptly moved back next to me again. Smugly satisfied that her brood weren't slumming it at the local comp that mine were forced to attend.

Cowbag

The rule is, if you have money you can do what the hell you want.

I haven't had chance to read whole thread, but be careful about making assumptions. If the child has Educational Health Care Plan in place for special needs (these needs may be 'invisible' to others) then children with these get allocation of school places before others. It also means the distance/area and other entrance criteria rules are applied differently. Unless you have direct evidence they have fraudently used another address (which is more difficult to do these days due to the checks that apply), I would let it be.

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

What a ridiculous analogy, in this instance you know the laptop is stolen, the op knows sweet fanny Adams other than they live out of catchment. She has no idea if they are legit or not.

And no it’s not her “job” to report anyone who lives out of catchment to the local authority, what a crazy thought.

My son goes to an out of catchment school, we live around 7 miles away and waited 2 years for a place! Our place was based on my husbands business being opposite which is totally legit but their was a newspaper article about fraudulent applications and they were clamping down. My son was being bullied at his old school, was falling behind with his school work and suffering panic attacks. He was late every day and had an appalling attendance record. Since being at his new school he has made excellent progress, rarely late and has perfect attendance. He's more confident and outgoing. So maybe look at the bigger picture, not everything is as it first appears. Also this happened to us a few years ago, we were on the waiting list for a place and another family got the place even though they'd moved further away than we lived, they hadn't updated the school with their new address. The school weren't interested when I complained.

I know my council doesn't check addresses. They've admitted that and have said they would only investigate if someone contacted them. (Not me who asked the question btw)
I don't know if my child didn't get her place at the local school through fraudulent reasons or just people playing the game legally.
But my child doesn't get to walk to school. While others are driven in from miles away to the only school she could have walked too. (250yds)
My son will also not get to walk to school when it's his turn.
they also won't get to have any of their friends living nearby. Silly little things but I used to play in the street and most of the kids went to either that school or the local faith school. My kids won't get to do that.

All I wanted was my kids to go to the local school. It was a good school but so is the one she got. I am very happy with the school and have absolutely no complaints. But for 10 years there will be no walking to school.
And then they will go to High school away from all their friends because our catchment high school is in the opposite direction.
They will then be expected to walk or bike to high school which is about a mile crossing a very busy road when they are not used to walking to school.
If we had got a place in local school they could have walked there themselves when older as only about 7 mins walk crossing 1 residential road.

It's so frustating isn't it? We have the same problem in our 'sought after' lil village, people literally rent a house for 6 months to get their kids into the primary school & then move somewhere cheaper! It's a tough one, fraught with 'oops I fucked that up' danger if you have the wrong end of the stick...On ther other hand, a friend of mine was told her son couldn't attend the primary as it was over subscribed (she has lived here all her life and went to the school herself as a child). She kicked off, threatened to go the papers and suddenly they could fit her son in! It's not morally right but I suppose the majority of parents just want the best for their kids - the issue is really why schools vary in quality so drastically from area to area, forcing parents to take underhanded action! I wouldn't report them, try to see it from the perspective of a parent who isn't lucky enough to be in the catchment... but ultimately it's up to you, go with your instinct I say :)

Wow. I think you need to mind your own business. As much as you say you're not jealous, that's how you sound. Why you would want to cause trouble in other people's lives I have no idea. My advice would be to not speak to this woman. You clearly don't like the way her or her family live so just leave them alone and concentrate on your own family.

My boy went to an out of catchment school because he has additional needs. We assessed three or four schools before deciding on that one because it gave us the confidence it could meet his needs. The catchment school did not. We went through the LA SEN TEAM not the education authority as that is the way it is done. My son has hidden disabilities, to look at him you would think he was a normal kid. I guess he is also frowned upon because he goes to a highly sought after out of catchment school. If you dont know all the facts, then arent you making assumptions to fill the gaps

Not read all the replies as there's 21 pages so sorry if this has already been answered.
How do you KNOW they've used a fraudulent address?
People can and do send their children to out of catchment areas perfectly legitimately.