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).

Bucks did use score as a key oversubscription criterion many years ago, but it changed to distance some time around the early 2000s. Every authority with a grammar school system has its own rules and arrangements for the 11+ exam and admissions, so what happens in one area will not necessarily be the case in another.

That was my understanding too. You're not supposed to move back and forth between properties to game the system. It's certainly against the spirit of the rules - whether this family have done just enough to adhere to the letter of the rules is harder to say.

Yeah OP you've basically done the same thing.

Also what this woman has done is legal

This school is in the next town to me. If they were reported to the council then they’d have to prove they’d sold their house. Is that what you mean? Personally if I was applying for a school with this policy, I wouldn’t want to chance it.

It’s very competitive to get into this school. They can withdraw places if there is fraud.

This happened to someone I know and their place was rescinded , I actually felt so sorry for the boy

Yes that is admissions fraud, our local very popular school said very specifically don’t do this at an open evening, because if we find out, your kid will lose their place. If this child and their parents don’t actually live in the closer house, it will probably come to light at some point, and it’s better for the child if that happens now instead of after school has started.

Doubt the child just told the story my bet is it came out during sustained questioning by OP

Yes fair that school does appear to be an example of actually requiring you to sell the house.

No, OP stated this child is very chatty and divulged all this information freely... In fairness if that was the actual case OP wouldn't have to say anything to the school, as apparently child will out themselves 🙄

You explain the need in your original post.

What is your plan b if your dc do not get a place due to siblings places and or distance ?
Reporting your neighbour does not guarantee your dc gets a place anyway

In my local authority this is not allowed. If you own a place and then move out to a rented one, the place you own counts as the permanent residence. So if the school found out about the situation you describe tge child would loose the place. However, I'm not sure I would report my child's best friend.

You sound awful! You're criticising a woman for housing her REFUGEE family members??? Because the home she is moving into is slightly closer to a school that you want your kid to go to? Could she not ummmm ... Love her family and want to help them stay safe during a war?!

You bragged that you paid loads for your house to get your kid into the school but now another woman has rented a house closer, she's suddenly a fraud and a cheat. Crazy.

Mind your own business. You don’t even know the full story, having heard it second hand from a child. I would keep my nose well out.

It was becoming increasingly clear exactly what your agenda was.

You're throwing your dummy out of the pram and being ridiculous.

Awful isn't it!

He was a father that was hell bent on making the mother's life as difficult as possible in any way he could regardless of the consequences to his children.

Really sad and shocking anyone would do that to their own child.

OT but I always wonder how people are so confident that the other mums they are bitching about or also not on MN. How do you know the other mother isn’t reading this thread?!

This is why I'm scared to bitch about anyone in real life on here 🙊

They "standardise" the scores to allow for age - a child born 1st September wouldn't get any extra points whereas one born 31st August would get the maximum available.

No idea how they work it out but do know that even with standardised scores allegedly putting all children in the same position, statistically those born earlier in the academic far more likely to pass than those born later.

My youngest is a summer baby and had only just turned 10 when they sat the 11 plus.

When I was a child, we sat the 11plus in January - seems far more sensible and fairer that way particularly given the test covers year 6 Maths and English which clearly won't have been covered the first week of the school year.

Apparently the Internet is shit in her crappy new rental so probably not 🫠

I don't care whether she reads this or not - and anyway I doubt she reads anything in English.

I doubt it matters much anyway, because if the child only just passed (with tutoring) they're not generally going to be able to keep up with the pace of the school. In our area the grammars are super-selective so they pick the pupils with the highest scores, regardless of where they live. Maybe OP's aren't that selective, but the score gained is still important. They won't want kids that aren't academic enough and will drag their percentages down.

Hm here we get to the nub of the issue, perhaps.

Sadly the former!