To be annoyed a friend lied about their address on a school application to get into an oversubscribed school

[Liverpoollass2]

I've recently found out a friend has lied on their school application by using another family members address to get their child into an oversubscribed school. The school is one I would have considered but would have been unlikely to get in as its very popular. Friend lives quite far but plans to move within the next few years closer to the school so wants their child at the school now. Its just annoyed me as I know many people who didn't get a place who are more local and feels Iike friend is misusing the system. Friend was able to get a letter with their name on it at the address by signing up for a credit card/store card I believe. I know its none of my business but I just feel annoyed about it now

I think we all understand WHY the parents play the system. It goes without saying that not all state schools are equal and this is why the very good one in these kinds of areas are oversubscribed. Doesn’t make lying and cheating the children who actually live close by out of a place justifiable though.

They do so many checks OP, it’s not going to be too difficult for her to be found out. I think a phone call and a nod in the right direction will start the ball rolling.

I wouldn’t mention the home visits, it will give the friend a chance to prepare how to lie about that and make her less likely to be caught out if they do actually do home visits.

Yes, but not the open register. I don't know how they check? I wasn't asked for that, I just used the address on a letter from the gp when we registered there.

They do at my school - above catchment, after LAC, EHCP and small number of allocated places for PP children.

How do you think they would lie about living in a home they don’t live in?

Well, unless you have 3 kids going to 3 different schools all 5 miles away from each other, 1 across the county border who have different half terms... whilst driving past the school 100m.away from your house...

@Mnetcurious I actually think The education system forces parents to do this kind of thing. I have worked in many state schools and there are some that would be like a prison sentence for a motivated child and some that are brilliant (that is not an exaggeration). The school that sends the most children to oxbridge is a state school. At the same time there are state schools that have never sent anyone there. That might be for good reason, but what if your child is allocated the wrong one by a faceless administrator? Should parents just settle for that? Parents who have got housing next to the school they want, or their child into a grammar school are often the most judgemental about anyone who ‘cheats’ the system and sneer at parents who fork out for private schools. I struggle to judge parents who want the best education for their child.

I agree wholeheartedly with @Msnet.'s post above.

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OP, I'm surprised your friend told you, I hope she doesn't go round telling everybody. People go to extraordinary lengths to get a place at a good school for their child, it has often amazed me what they do, sometimes taking risks, often moving house at great expense (the latter not being against the rules), I just hope it proves to be worth it. At least in your friend's case, the family intend to move to the school's catchment area.

Where I live, the good schools have always taken children from outside their catchment area, entry depends on ability, so the situation never arose for mine.

Its not worth the energy to be annoyed by it, let it go. The child may not be accepted anyway, there's no guarantee and you say the school is over-subscribed.

The system. You’ve got to ask yourself would you be proud if this came out that you’ve done this.

I suspect the answer is no.

Op said they used a family member’s address so I guess they would arrange with the family member about staging a home visit there.

A parent did this at my child's school. You can tell she's worried as she's does loads with the ptfa and in the village community but doesn't live here 🤷‍♀️. I agree with you, it's not right how some people abuse the system.

Except it isn't.

Looked after children are ALWAYS top instate funded schools.

Would be interested to see the determined arrangements for the schools you are saying bypass the law.

Don’t be absurd. School places are allocated by distance for obvious sensible reasons. You can’t start sending kids to schools nowhere near their homes. Transport costs for starters.

The school by me definitely check thoroughly. A remember someone who worked there one year telling me that they had removed 10% of students who had initially got in because their parents had used a fake address. Using a family member's address is the most common.

I’ve done loads of home visits. It will be obvious. You might ask the child to go and fetch their favourite toy to show you. You can tell when a young family live in a house.

EHCP is actually first.
Then CLA.
Then social / medical.

Very few Labour MPs have children at private schools because the occasional ones that do get absolutely slaughtered in the press for their alleged hypocrisy (remember Diane Abbott)?

Once again, I think most of us are aware of the disparity in standards of education, environment and the type of children who attend different schools.
It doesn’t make lying that you live at a different address ok because your child would suffer at the worse school or thrive at the better school. The bright and motivated child who missed out on the place at the good school because someone else lied may also have had a chance at Oxford if they’d attended the good school, and now they’ll have to endure the ‘prison sentence’ of the worse school because of the cheating of others. It works both ways.

Agreed. And it means the child with motivated parents ( who would probably do OK because they have motivated and interested parents) have now got a double advantage by condemning another child, who's parents don't know how to game the system to a poorer school, further away from their house. Parents will always try to do the best for their children, but it is up to the authorities to make sure the rules are applied fairly.

A woman is know had her parents in law buy a small house near the school to use as an address to get into a very popular primary school. They only kept it for about a year and she never got caught.

The pp who mentioned lottery as the most fair system is correct especially for secondary school when most pupils travel further: sibling policy would apply.

Distance from gates is the least ‘fair’ policy as it’s based on ability to pay. When VAT comes in for school fees, expect this to rise. May as well invest in property where you can recover the costs and get a good education on the taxpayer rather than forking out hundreds of thousands over the years of income that’s already been taxed. It’s great to see an incoming government that is so committed to fairness…

I remember that very well and it was the City of London School that Diane Abbott's son went to. I knew a few boys who went there. The way people carried on you'd have thought it was Eton or Harrow.

The children of Labour MPs often go to grammar schools, sometimes selective ones (I never quite know what that is but never mind), frequently out of their catchment areas. Where there's a will there's a way.

But presumably, even with a lottery, there will have to be a distance limit. They can't send children hours away.

@TinyYellow

Don’t hate the players hate the game. It’s ridiculous that some families are more entitled to their choice of school than other in the first place.

So when it comes to schools where there are more children wanting to attend than there are spaces for them, what should happen in your opinion?