Oversubscribed school catchment areas - how does your school prevent fraudulent applications?

[nameymcnamechange]

You know, the sort of thing where people apply from a false address, or use Granny's address.

What forms of proof, if any, does your school ask to see?

Hi

I moved about 1.5 yrs ago - to an area with a very good school with a tiny catchment area - first 20 local kids get in ...the rest is exam only... anyway every year they send us letters asking all neighbours to 'grass up' anyone one we think is suspicious. They ask for your medical cards & utility bills along side the applications. Also there are a number of indicators eg: if your child goes to a primary school more then 3 miles away from the secondary school... you get pulled in and have to further prove your address and give reasons to why you attended a primary school further away

NAmey - as far as I understand it doing that (using the address of a flat rented out to someone else) is actually fraudulent as they don't live there. If however they actually move into the flat for a few months at the time the application is made, then it is playing the system rather than fraudulent.

A friend of mine was investigated - when looking round Primary schools she decide her favourite was the one about 3 miles away. No hope of getting in, so she put her house on the market and rented a flat on the doorstep of the school. Because they moved into the flat they did nothing wrong. They have since sold their former house and bought one much closer to the school so are part of the community etc. She was asked to provide a lot more evidence to prove they were living in the flat - I think council tax bills, electricity bills etc as well as having the Head "pop round" occassionally with the odd form.

When we applied for school places everyone in the authority had to provide evidence of address regardless of which primary school they applied for.

We had to provide something with the child's name and address on - so a utility bill wouldn't have counted. Things like medical cards were recommended.

In our area it is the Local Authority who allocate school places, not the Head teacher and home visits in our area are just standard good practice and have nothing to do with admissions.

What are medical cards? Just curious as my children have never had any. (Bad parent emoticon?)

NHS cards with your NHS number on. Everyone has them. They are issued shortly after birth.

Personally I think you should have to withdraw your DC from a school at the end of their current year or perhaps Key Stage if you move away and there's a DC on the waiting list who would have got that place over your own DC at your new address.

There's a fair bit of dodgy practice in our catchment: when we were trying to find a rental in the catchment (legitimately!) one very young and non-savvy EA assistant told us of at least 4 two bedroom apartments they managed that they weren't allowed, by the owners, to rent out to anyone with a school aged child in case the school cross checked the address- and found that the owners were using it to get their own DC into the school...

Gosh I find this discussion fascinating!

It does show that separating the legitimate from the illegitimate practice not always straightforward, tho' no grey areas in actually renting out an address you claim to be living at!

The secondary school 200m away from us is highly oversubscribed....every year many families rent and move into flats/houses nearby just to get a school place and once in, they then move back to their house. It's a joke!

There are kids living 900m away who can't get a place and yet these fraudsters get their kids in. We all want the best for our kids but don't peopple have any morals??

What they are doing is, of course, fraudulent. If someone informed the LA they could take their children's places away even after they have started at school.

One utility bill in my area.

There are constant stories of people committing fraud to get in and getting away with it. Last summer I heard the head of our local primary had got sick of it and sent a list of the addresses from which repeated applications came each year to the LEA- and yet noone seems to have been caught. I can only conclude that the LEA does not give a stuff.

Emy 72. When you change to a different doctor's practice you get sent a medical card (postcard size) with your new doctor's details. When you register a baby with any practice you will get one.