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?)

The OP said she's pretty sure they used a different address to the one they live at. Idk how she knows that but in general terms why would anyone need to do that if they've got a legitimate application with nothing to hide

Exactly platform

No crime no problem.

But then this is MN where people call 101 over dog poo and wheely bins but fraud is ok cos "think of the child"

But then this is MN where people call 101 over dog poo and wheely bins but fraud is ok cos "think of the child"
That's exactly it!

But suspicions of benefit fraud should also be reported too. Just potential fraud linked to school places doesn't count because lovely middle class parents are just doing their best for their child

'And wildrose the rule is different in London. If you own a place that is your residence. Any rental is immaterial. That's the situation a lot of people on this thread are talking about (and which I have in mind)'

Sadly not the case in my borough, Arkestra. If only!

Yeh I think I mentioned up thread about the double standards on here. No one likes a gossip or whatever but with he school places crisis as it is now its really unhelpful when individual parents start trying to shaft others

Oh of course maisy

We can of course report anyone for benefit fraud god forbid their brother lends then a 20 yr old Nissan Micra to get the kids to school they must be lyimg

But a person with two properties and no links to a school taht oversubscribed and comes out about half a mile and to the best if the knowledge has nothing wrong with her is not enough ti base a suspicipn on and reporting won't affect them in any way shape or form unless they are dodgy.....butt out

Unless she's on benefits and gets seen with a bucket if kfc that you cab report for

They may have applied at this school legitimately. My sister lives over 3 miles from the school her kids go to and I know she used her actual address. What makes you think they've used a false address?

I'm sure it has led to appeals but I doubt any of them have been successful wildrose. The policy of not accepting a rental address if you own another property nearby is an increasingly common one. It's being introduced to weed out the patents who think they can legitimately move into a property for a year just to get a place at a school and then move back to their own home later.

Unfortunately there are people who have a genuine reason for renting while owning another property who get caught up in this. Some of these people may win an appeal if they can prove they had a genuine reason.

I'm reminded of the thread last year by the parent who tried this and got caught out. Fortunately for him the LA very kindly wrote to him before allocations, stating the address they would be using and asking if he'd like to change his school preferences and they wouldn't count it as a late application.

Rafal itA gets worse. There's a new rule for some schools neae me - if you move at any point (say your older kid is on Y4) and the new house is more than 800 meters from the school you lose sibling rights. Again probably something tbat could be appealed in rare cases, but this is also creating victims from people with genuine reasons to move.

- if you move at any point (say your older kid is on Y4) and the new house is more than 800 meters from the school you lose sibling rights.

Many LAs have already done this. They've taken away the sibling link altogether. I know because we had to appeal, the fact DD had a sibling in the same school we were applying for meant nothing.

Both our DCs are in OOC schools because we didnt sit in any church pews for enough weeks to get them into any of the several local schools near us. Literally all of them are faith schools. We didnt cheat the system. They have our correct address. I can barely afford to live here never mind have another address for catchment purposes!

Unless she's on benefits and gets seen with a bucket if kfc that you cab report for

That made me chuckle *Gileswithachainsaw. It's more complicated if they're caught with a big mac though isn't it?

People own more than one property. I own more than one myself and I am not at all wealthy, just couldn't sell the first due to negative equity. There are thousands in my position as well as many thousands who own many properties, many of which are unregistered, who would have no hesitation in engaging a solicitor who would be very willing to take on a legal case.

theycalledmethewildrose but that's why many LAs want proof of address for the last x amount of months. Because you have to prove that's your actual residence. To try and stop people defrauding the system like that.

Obviously not saying you're defrauding the system they. Like I said, we live OOC and still had to provide a wealth of evidence that this is our actual address. But I think that's because at one point they had people coming in from OUTSIDE the city to get to the good schools by using nans/mums/grandads address.

Our school has removed LA catchment boundaries & shifted the distances so those children who live further get a chance to go to the school. Sibling link is still there.

Don't think of the child who might be psychologically affected and just report it. Children need a bit of trauma in their lives as they're trying to fit in at a new school as it builds character.

My point was that if I wanted X school and I owned a property in that school's location, of course I would move into it for six to twelve months beforehand, change my electoral address and use that address to provide the school with the necessary documentation. It would be perfectly within my rights to do that in any one of the properties I owned (if I owned more than one) and if I didn't own a property in the area of the school I wanted, I could rent and do the same thing as many people do every year. I could do the same at any time if I decided the property I was living in was now unsuitable for our needs as a family and short let our existing house or if there was an issue with the house e.g. plumbing problems and I could not rent it out then it would be left vacant until I had the funds to either fix it or do it up until I got around to selling it. The LA cannot say that my now unsuitable address is the only address they will use or they would have solicitors letters piling high in their inbox. Of course there are some cases where is is obvious that the move was to facilitate a school place. I know many such cases myself where I live as there is only one decent secondary non fee paying school and the rest are fee paying. There is a very well known primary in another location where they publish their admissions policy to include the wording that the school place will be removed if they find out the address used is not the child's primary residence. This, however, is impossible to prove as the parents of the primary kids attending the school are, in the majority, highly paid white collar workers who can take on the school in a legal battle. It is so hard to implement that the school's main criteria has now changed to saying that people must have lived in the area for X number of years. This was also challenged in the courts and found to be void as it discriminated against non nationals who had recently arrived in the country.

My point is that 'rules' are not black and white as the whole thing is a minefield. An unnecessary minefiekd as schools should be on a par with one another but unfortunately that isn't the case.

wildrose if you can prove that a particular property out of a number that you own is your child's main address, and make that evidence part of your application, then fine. I imagine you'd have no problem getting a firm to help you with an appeal too.

Similar comments apply if someone is applying from a rental address, but has declared property ownership and presents valid evidence why the rental address should instead be considered. Note that in my area it would need to be compassionate grounds, family sickness for instance, not "we're renting out the house we own" or "we're renovating the house we own and it's currently not habitable" - both these excuses are explicitly disallowed by my local authority.

But someone who omits to mention property ownership while applying from a rental address, gets found out and tries to appeal? That's the situation the OP was talking about as possibly being the case. If I was representing someone who'd done that, I'd want my money up front!

God this thread is turning into one of those American teen movies

It's not cheating if it's twins, they cancel eachother out.

It's not cheating if it's in a different zip code

Ice cream has no calories if you share it.

Sleep on your arm it feels like apmepme else is doing.

Owning anything is fraud I'd your on benefits but it's not fraud if you are middle class and "doing the best for your child"

School place fraud is ok cos the only people who suffer is the benefit scroungers or lower working class as they clearly don't care enough about their child to do the same.

All those people who are legitimate, will have paperwork etc proving so and home visits will confirm.

The only people who need to worry are those who are up to something

(My area has many well off people who have tried the latter, been found out, and have had judgement successfully enforced against them.)

Giles would you be happy with a child being traumatised by having to suddenly leave their school where they've settled in and made friends etc to a then be put in a school possibly far from home/friends because their parents had frauded the system?

Because that's what would happen?

And that is the fault of the parents no one else!!!

And what about the multiple children who were robbed of places at multiple schools or pushed down waiting lists or uprooted from the town that's been their home and their families home for years and forced to move cos someone lied.

You do the best for your child. If you lived near a shitty school but had the chance of giving your child a better start at a good school out of your catchment, what would you do? I'd keep out if it, you don't know their personal circumstances. How would you like it if someone was interfering in your child's future?

Of course it's the fault of the parents.
But that not what I asked you.

I would feel bad for ALLthe children affected.

Every last one of them.

However parents can't go unpunished for these things. It's not right. And the parents are the only ones to blame.

And actuakky I do live near a shitty school my dd will he attending the shittest school in the county next yr.

Im.still not lying to get a place. Because im.not a theif