Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

[grammarmom]

Here's the situation.

We live in a grammar school catchment area that gets smaller every year. When we bought our house several years ago, it was very comfortably within the catchment for an excellent local grammar (very high in the league tables), and oh boy was it reflected in the price. Now we're right on the boundary. Among the thirty or so houses around us, some children got in last year and some didn't, literally a difference of a few yards.

Another child on our street, who is in the same class as my DC, only just passed the 11+ (a few points above the pass threshold). We live on the same road, but they are about 50 yards further from the school gate. Based on last year's distances, my child would likely get a place while theirs wouldn't.

Over the weekend, during a sleepover, the child mentioned that her mother has now rented a house much closer to the school to secure a higher priority for admission. The tenancy was apparently signed one day before the cut-off date, making it "legal" for admission purposes. She still owns their original home, but the story being presented is that relatives who were previously "homeless" will now live there free of charge, and all bills and utilities have been transferred into those relatives' names (I strongly suspect that the mother will in fact pay these bills as those relatives are penniless).

She's even moved the children's belongings to the rented property and makes them spend nights there (they hate it). There's no doubt that once the school place is obtained, they will move right back.

This effectively pushes my child down the priority list and means they may now miss out.

Would this constitute admissions fraud? It feels incredibly unfair that someone with £40k to spare for rent can effectively buy their way into a top grammar school, especially when their child didn't perform particularly well in the exam (despite being tutored for hours every day).

Should I report this? I have no more detail apart from what this child told me (and they obviously weren't too sure about some aspects of it due to age).

This really isn’t unusual. A previous poster has mentioned Bucks already. In addition, at least some schools in North Yorks and Lincolnshire have a system where there’s a basic pass mark, and then places are allocated based on the over subscription criteria which don’t take any account of the actual mark gained.

The scores definitely made a difference at our local grammar. DS passed, as did two of his friends who lived another 4 miles further away (all out of catchment). The other two were offered places straight away, whilst DS was put on the reserve list.

OP: this is not acceptable by many LA’s who do not accept a rented address if the applicant owns a house in the same council tax area.

Report them. The decision is then with the LA.

Good luck to your Dc

Well, different schools have different admissions criteria. So your experience is not necessarily relevant to the OP.

I understand and sympathise with your frustration. Unfortunately, it's unlikely you will receive any support here - you will be demonised for being able to afford to buy a house in the catchment area of a good school. Apparantly it's all down to good fortune, not hard work and sacrifice.

We are also in a grammar area and you are correct, the over subscription criteria varies from school to school. Certainly the majority of selective schools where we are do not look at the actual score (only the handful of super selective schools do that) - the criteria is passing the 11 plus, then children in care then distance (as the crow fly's because let's face it we all fly to school 🙈). Some then prioritise pupil premium next and have dropped the sibling link altogether - the over subscription criteria can change year to year.

Slightly different situation however I am aware of a child being offered a place at a school based upon the father's address. The mum, who was divorced from the father had submitted the father's address because it was closer to the school chosen and the child did spend time there. The child was offered a place at the school and the father reported the mother to the school for using his address - the offer was retracted as a consequence. It went to appeal and the decision was upheld.

School's, or rather Local Authorities, do not take kindly to the system being played.

The catchment area will fluctuate. I believe this year is a low birth year which may help, however, the number of children moving from independent schools to decent state schools' is also on the increase given the VAT situation.

It's a horrible scenario all round unfortunately, good luck with whatever you decide.

@Genevieva@NormasArse not all grammars have that as a criteria. I teach in a grammar where you ‘just’ need to pass the 11+, then it’s done on distance. The score the child got doesn’t affect admissions at my school. There are plenty in my county that do the same thing.

Jesus what kind of a father is that.

Interesting. I started out my teaching career in one along time ago. We crunched the raw marks by age to create a score that was then put in order for all children in catchment. If you were from the furthest reaches of the catchment but got a high score you were in.

At least 2 secondary schools in our area (not grammar) are oversubscribed. As part of the application process we had to provide a council tax bill from the previous year. I dont know how it worked of you had moved into the area in the interim period.

The C of E school has a pretty small catchment area and yet I see hordes of kids arriving by train each day so im not sure if they are siblings or got in via a different criteria.

This is absolutely correct in Buckinghamshire. Renting a property while continuing to own another is considered address fraud, and the schools in the county will consider the owned property as your main residence whether you do or not. You have to have sold it, renting it to anyone, whether family or not, does not count.

I believe there are two pass marks for here, one for if you’re an autumn-winter birthday and one slightly lower for the spring-summer children. I’m not entirely sure if that’s true! My own child is in year 5 and a summer born, so I probably should find out!

Wasn’t your argument that disposed of included renting. I’m just pointing out that some authorities do not automatically consider renting as disposed of in the same way that selling the property is. There will be an investigation to see whether it’s an attempt at fraud.

Moving across the country and renting while your house is on the market most likely will be fine. Moving from the edge of the catchment area to a closer local property for no obvious reason unlikely to fly.

I was wondering this.
He's either a vindictive bastard (and there's a huge backstory regarding his relationship with his ex wife) or he is extremely moral (and there's a huge backstory...etc).

Well there was no need for you to pay over the odds for a house in the catchment area. Is it any different?

It’s possible. More likely is that the score is age standardised. So the same score requires a lower raw mark on the exam papers for summer born children.

What if its true, she has these relatives she needs to help and realised in doing so she could do it in a way that helps her kid. Why not?

Both things could be true at once?

I see you point on "morally" but tbh if I were her my loyalty would lie with my children over the other applicants.

Yep. They're all 'buying' their way in.

I just looked up Buckinghamshire and it says this:

1. The property must be occupiable 52 weeks a year, with no planning/contract restrictions that limit occupancy.
2. Importantly: If you have a second home, they expect you to sell it or lease it out (with a proper tenancy) if you’re going to use a different address for school admissions.

• If you move to a new address, you must provide evidence so that the admissions team can accept that as your child’s normal address.

• Evidence required includes things like:
• Solicitor’s letter for property purchase
• A signed tenancy agreement (minimum 12 months) if renting

www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/guide-to-moving-up-to-secondary-school/understanding-the-terms-we-use/

And that is exactly how schools in many parts of the country still operate. Not everywhere, however. In Bucks there is a qualifying score and every child who gets it is deemed equally eligible for a.grammar.school place. Who goes to which school is then largely determined by distance criteria (there are other categories which are taken into account before distance, but score is not one of them).

The grammar school my kids went to did that except the catchment area was the whole city. The only way distance came Into it was if two kids had exactly the same mark for the last place and then the nearest got the place.

Op I really sympathise with you, I was in this EXACT same situation 10 years ago, with my son and his best friend. Son got a higher mark in 11+ than friend and our house was in the catchment for distance, so going by previous years we would be likely to get a distance criteria place.
Friend lived just a bit further away and wouldn't have got a distance place.
Friends mum then rented a 2 bed flat for a family of 6 , even closer to the school! I felt so upset, as like yourself, I felt it would be so unfair if friend got a place and my son didn't as we had genuinely been living there for 10 years prior to application!
However, in our case, the bf mum did admit to me that this was her plan and was very apologetic about it but explained she had to do whatever she could for her son's sake, which I did understand, despite feeling so upset for my son, that he was being leap frogged by his friend when my son had got a higher mark AND genuinely lived closer to the school.
However, happy ending, they both got places! Hopefully this will happen in your case too!
I did consider reporting this to the school, but I couldn't have lived with myself, thinking that I had tried to deprive a child of a place, and caused trouble for bf mun who was actually a very nice person.
So I had patience, despite my pain in this situation.
I totally understand how upset you are OP, and I do hope both kids get places in this scenario.
Even though, I felt so upset at friends mum I tried my best to not allow this to affect the boys friendship or my own friendship with the mum.
I'm glad I had patience as things worked out in the end for all.
Although I was so upset with friends mum, I had to admit that I would have done the same, if head not been in the distance catchment.
Most parents would do anything and everything for their children, and I'm sure both mothers in this case are the same

I’m just pointing out that some authorities do not automatically consider renting as disposed of in the same way that selling the property is.

yes fair - I can see that some areas are stricter on this. However, I'm yet to see one that says that you must sell your property, and renting it out will not be sufficient, which is the claim being repeatedly made all over this thread.
The strictest policies seem to say that renting while you still own another property may be considered a flag for fraud / will require further justification.

It would seem that many people don't have the imagination to see that different authorities could have different rules about a) allocating grammar places, and b) different rules about fraud.
OP, there have been several admission experts (as in consistent detailed advice over many years) on this thread, and not all of them have declared as such, who say report.

All my money is on number one:

He's...a vindictive bastard (and there's a huge backstory regarding his relationship with his ex wife)

Quite. She can afford to do it. You may not like it, but I imagine the parents desperate for a place who couldn’t afford your house don’t find it fair either.