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).

Answer truthfully, would you do it if you could???

Yes. It's what is allowed in practice that matters. Not what posters think should be allowed.

You've both used money to climb over the heads of poorer children though?

Money talks. Get over it and focus 100% on making sure you do the best for your own DC.

I would also be frustrated OP. But when we talked of unfair advantage, that's unfortunately how the entire system is. You don't have the money to buy a house in the catchment area? Too bad. You don't have money for tutoring? Too bad. You don't have money to feed your kids well so they can perform well in class? Too bad. Your parents are neglectful alcoholics/struggling with their own MH which impacts you/you attend a primary with a plethora of pupils with high needs meaning less time and attention for brighter kids? Too bad.

People, yourself included, use what they have to confer advantage to the level they can. Has always been thus and, I suspect, will always be thus.

so people with money spend a fortune on their dc passing the 11+
is that fair

none of this is fair
but as said, people want their best for their children

Some friends of mine rented near a grammar school and renovated their existing property which took about a year. Very convenient timing, but it's just part of the game.
It is kind of the reason why previous governments wanted to move away from GS system as it just enables the pointy elbowed middle classes who can afford tutoring and the property price uplift.
Suck it up, she played the game and played it well.

I would

It's legal and reporting it will go nowhere but might make you feel morally superior for all of 5 seconds.

I’m pretty sure you are explaining the law to a lawyer who has spent years sitting on admissions appeal panels here.

ETA: the quote has disappeared. That was to @InterIgnis

Renovations do seem to be used a lot in admissions gaming. A poster earlier in the thread posted this re Barnet

Legally, yes it is.

This is not a clear cut case of fraud at all. It is not an action that will automatically prevent the child from getting a place at the school, nor one that will fail to stand up to scrutiny in the face of OP making a complaint. The details matter.

Did you pay for a tutor to help your child with the 11 plus? Am I correct in saying your child hasn’t even taken the exam so may not even pass?

You also contradict yourself when people have called you for paying over the odds to get in the catchment . One minutes ‘oh boy did we pay for it’ and in the next breath, ‘we’ve lived here for years since kids were infants and it wasn’t a priority/ on our radar’.

Also you have made some big assumptions that their relatives aren’t paying a penny to live there or pay any bills. You have no idea if this is true or not. The way you talk about them being poor refugees and leaving the UK next year comes across as quite unpleasant IMO.

Mind your business, she found a way around the system. Leave them alone

Not sure it’s fraud but certainly morally wrong.
But it happens a lot.
We had a very wealthy neighbours son suddenly get accepted into Grammar school despite missing the cut off mark by a lot.
im assuming a healthy donation to the school.
It goes in believe you me !

Nothing might come of your report but I would bring it to the attention of the board. It's maybe not illegal but it isn't fare . It's bucking the system and I'd make mention that as there are a few places you'd not be happy if your child missed out due to her activity.

I think you are overreacting tbh. Firstly the school places aren't announced until March 2026 so that is a long time to be annoyed! Secondly do you know if your child was born in a low or high birth rate year? High birth rate will reduce the catchment area. Thirdly priority is given to children under social care and then the sibling connection so it may not even matter!

Great! That makes two qualified solicitors in this exchange then.

Surely the catchment area will change each year depending on how many children are of the age to apply so you may well have both gotten in anyway?

you sound like a jobsworth tbh and you’re speculating a lot, not sure what her family being refugees even has to do with it… comes across very jealous.

If this child has not really moved house but only ‘moved’ to get into a good school, then that sounds like fraud. I would in principle not report it. But this situation touches your family personally: your own child (and two siblings) may suffer from what the other family are doing. Report it, OP. Stand up for your children - they may lose out on a school place that really should be theirs.

Life can be unfair at times! I wouldn't bother reporting it. Maybe others are doing the same who knows!

OP, I don’t get it. Your house hasn’t moved. No one has stolen a place from you. If your neighbour didn’t rent that place closer to the school then in all likelihood someone else with a child who wanted to be in catchment would have. That’s the way it always is with rental properties next to popular schools.

To me, she is doing the best for her child, which is something all parents will do if they have the means. If you want to be angry at someone it should be the government, why do people have to move house in the country to give their kids the best, all schools should be at a standard where any child can succeed but nope, the government has created a class society whereby all schools are not equal so parents have to spend over the odds if the can afford it to provide their kids for the bare neccesities

All these sharp elbows.

What a shame we don't have a system that offers all children a quality education.