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?)

Do you think the school appreciate you reporting if the child has got in fairly and squarely? No!
Do you think the school will appreciate you opening a can of worms if they have used another address.Do you think they will enjoy confronting the family and expelling the pupil? No!
Nobosy likes a telltale!They will regard you as a nasty little shit either way. Do you think that will make them more or less inclined to go the extra mile for your kid?

It's down to the L.A. not the school

And im.sure they are thankful people report fraud and help keep criteria correctly applied

Someone, of course, in which case REPORTING does no harm. REPORTING by itself does nothing to the family IF the family has done nothing wrong. In fact, if there are features such as SEN, then the LA will know and the family will never even know that a concern was raised.

People seem to think that a simple call the the LA will lead to the child losing their place forthwith, without any investigation of the reasons for the situation. Of course that won't happen. REPORTING will, at most, lead to a behind the scenes investigation, which will ONLY involve the family concerned IF suspected malpractice is uncovered.

I KNOW that there are many reasons why this may not be fraud. If those reasons stand up, then the child will keep their place, and in most cases, the family will never know.

Pizza, nobody will report to the school. It's the LAS, in the vast majority iof cases, who handle the co-ordinated admissions process for reception, and it will be the LA to whom the OP should report. Again, the school will ONLY know if the LA has reason to suspect there is an issue and need to seek information from the school (e.g. the address that the family has given the school for contact purposes - ours collects that routinely from schools before and after admission, just to cross-check against their records)

And im.sure they are thankful people report fraud and help keep criteria correctly applied
Yes I am sure they are just sitting round twiddling their thumbs all day waiting for some more work to come in which involves conducting an intrusive investigation and endless paperwork, not even to mention the expense , to say nothing of causing upset to parents a nd children.I bet it brightens their day when a shitstirrer files a most probably groundless report
And academy admissions are dealt with by the school not the LA aren't they?

Pizza, I am well aware that Orwell wrote 1984 as well as Animal Farm. I was just pointing out that more than 1 of his books could be seen to be relevant here.

singledadstu they can't refuse a place based on catchment area if there is a place available. They can give preference to children living in a defined catchment or priority area over those living outside it during the admission process or when organising the waiting list.

There are plenty of places that still use catchment areas. However it is often also used to refer to the admissions footprint of a school I.e. the distance of the Last child admitted under distance criteria.

It's what they are paid to do isn't it. Long term if it's highlighting faults in their processes it can only he a good thing.

Do you worry about the extra workload imposed on staff when you need help or ask of there's any more stock in the back?

It's their job.

So, pizza, if people apply to schools fraudulently, in your mind that's fine, and the collateral damage to families who are denied their rightful places is not an issue?

If everyone is do fine and dandy with fraud, why don't we all do it? Let's give out school places based on who can tell the best lies.

LAs: we're trying to deal with the increasing number of fraudulent applications, please report any suspicions to us.

MNers: screw that. Mind your own business and look the other way.

Our LA actively requests reports and seeks collaborative information from all sorts of sources as it is an area with a very significant history of application fraud. Most investigation happens behind the scenes now, and few places are wrongly awarded as a result, but I still know of families caught each year through reports - and I know the deserving children who got their rightful places instead.

Yup, I’m sure the local authority has an avalanche of staff sitting round doing nothing, and we should all be reporting every kid out of catchment, just to keep em busy. They will be ever so grateful.

if people apply to schools fraudulently, in your mind that's fine
I think any checks eg against addresses given for early years funding should be done before place is offered, and onc eplace is taken up , it's a done deal.

The child is now at the school and settling in. Don't be a dick.

I got into my primary school fraudulently. Whilst it's not something I would personally do as a parent, as a kid there were lots of children I knew at this school and to be turfed out and made to go through my first week AGAIN - and this time knowing noone - would have been horrific. The damage is done, don't make it worse.

It's not just because they are out of catchment don't you see that?

It's the complete lack of other criteria that is ahead if catchment at a school where even catchment kids don't get in.

Leaves 2 optioms.

Lying

Or additional needs of some kind.

Both are extremely possible

onc eplace is taken up , it's a done deal.

So the fact that another child is in a school that they did not choose, while their rightful place is occupied by a child who has stolen it (or whose parents have done so) is OK?

Locally, it took a few children to be, very publicly, removed from the school at about this point in the Autumn term for everyone to realise that the LA really did mean business. Although people are still found out every year, the perception that admissions fraud is 'OK' has now disappeared, and it is attempted more rarely.

Ignoring crime leads to more of it.

Why not stop bickering about which child gets what and start protesting about the children who are losing out.

Third of state schools [9,000] in cash deficit...
link here

Enough said?

id wait until you have more concrete evidence maybe they have put grandparents address this happens quite a lot where i live as its usually the grandparent/s to take kids and pick them pick them up from school daily a few parents live up to 10 miles away what annoyed me was a few local kids didnt get in and had to go to a school which involved 2 buses there and back

HKS,

The point is, the OP may have the concrete evidence of actual address that the LA may currently lack.

So rather than the OP waiting for concrete evidence, why doesn't she just pass the evidence she does have to those who need it and can integrate it with other information on e.g. SEN, LAC, adoption, address applied from etc? It comes to the same thing in the end - one person - preferably the person employed to do so - aggregates information from lots of sources to work out the entire picture and then the way forward.

I honestly am shocked at the amount of people saying myob. It is everyones business that admissions are done fairly.

I remember watching a programme on admissions in Birmingham. They had people whose job it was to do home visits of those they weren't sure were legit. They caught a few as the houses were obviously not lived in.

I am sure if it was your child who missed out you would feel differently.

Our council encourage you to report any suspicions. The real victims are the children who miss out on a place due to liars.

I would not snitch on them but I would let the school know there was fraud going on.

The lengths some people go to in order to try and secure a place looks extreme to say the least even if they can afford it. I think it would benefit my children more to put rent and deposits etc in to something more useful and worthwhile than paying some landlords mortgage for them. My youngest didn't get a place in any of the schools we wanted but we've got on with things at the new school and it's not the end of the world. If the school place application race was in physical form it'd look like Black Friday

I'm always amazed that people can put that much thought and energy into people they don't know. You are of a suspicious nature and can't help but to assume the worst. Try n get out more and leave other people alone. If u want to do right by people volunteer to help those that need it and stop watching others.

There is no evidence of spite from the Op. There isn't even a vested interest because her child isn't affected.

There is just evidence of a parent who knows all parents want to get their kids in and who has seen the damage done to families who have the school place they are entitled to stolen from them by fraud, and who wants it stopped and the rules applied as they should be.

Too few people on here are considering those who have lost out due to fraud. People don't seem to think about those kids (and their siblings) who have to travel greater distances, families pay more childcare and not have local friends. They are the victims. People seem more keen to consider the children who might lose their place and see it as a greater evil. Why? The fraudulent parents know that THEY run the risk of putting their kids in that position if they cheat. No doubt they blame the reporter and refuse to see their role in it, but that is how selfish and unable to see the reality fraudsters are.

In the end, I can only assume people say 'mind your own' because they genuinely don't care about those who lose out through fraud. I can only assume that they have no real respect for the admissions rules and see it as a free for all and each mann for himself and that if fraud is what it takes, then do it. The fraud isn't seen as serious and only ones own children are worth consideration. How else can people justifying turning a blind eye to fraud that creates victims of children...unless you refuse to even see those other children.
Its what I think Bluntness has been doing - very critical of the Op, but no real criticism of admissions fraudsters but empathy for their position......and never mention of the children who are cheated of their places....just seems to be tough luck in a tough world.