Is age fraud really prevalent in schools?!

[sallowmarshmallow]

My dd attends a private school. I've noticed some of the girls there are very eye developed and yet come from a country where the girls generally develop more slowly than the western dc. I am not from a western country so this is not against any person or race it's just this particular race that happens to be more obvious that genuine dc of this age are much smaller than western dc but these girls are fully developed and acting and looking much much older than the year they attend school in.

I spoke to my friend who is from the same country as these girls and she said it's quite common for parents to send their dc to foreign/international schools and lie about the dc age (within a few years)
I was quite shocked tbh and wondered how prevalent this is. Particularly curious now as I see them succeed in sports teams and academically take all the top spots and this is all very well now, but obviously when it comes to official exams, surely they will also skew overall results that dc the 'correct' age will then be competing with.
Is my friend right?!

And also fake their passports and visas? Yeah sure, think your 'friend' is on the windup.

I don't think this is a thing. 😂

Never heard of or seen this

Private schools will allow children to be out of age group. I teach in an independent school and have several children in my class who are a year out of age group. It would be unusual for it to be more than a year though I think. No lying going on- the children’s ages and birth dates are clear in my register. But other parents wouldn’t know how old these children are unless their own parents chose to share.

A private school can admit older students if they wish as long as they manage any safeguarding issues. It's not uncommon for 15/16 year olds to be admitted to year 10 as they can't join mid GCSEs

In dc school there were some up to two years out of sync, partly due to different school year timings and because they could start later or repeat, especially from HK.

Gosh with such accurate age assessment skills OP you really need to volunteer yourself to the Home Office and Children's Services up and down the country who have a statutory responsibility to assess the ages of unaccompanied asylum-needing children.

Here were us thinking there was no safe or scientifically reliable way to age assess children in an international context when OP can apparantly do it by eye!!

Private schools can admit kids out of age group. For example the child might not speak English well or might want to join mid exam course in which case might repeat a year or two. If it's an academic school where parents send their kids because of leaver's destination they won't care if the person getting into Oxbridge is 18,19 or 20.

I assume that all the "looks younger than western kids" comments is a reference to East Asian kids. I really doubt that they are hiding the real age when being a year or two older isn't an issue.

but obviously when it comes to official exams, surely they will also skew overall results that dc the 'correct' age will then be competing with.

I can't see how.

Pupils from other countries need a valid passport and visa to enter UK; so the UK school is perfectly aware of their birthdate . So is the UK examining body when that pupil is entered for examinations (and issued with certificates) and so is the UK university applications system.

In UK, there is no fixed or "correct" age for taking "official exams"; or for university entrance.

At DD's school there are a small number of children either older or younger than the traditional academic year (by 12 months).

For the ones held back, it is because English hasn't been their mother tongue and they are giving them that extra year to catch up.

I’ve only seen it once but not in a private school I would say the child was around 13/14years old and parents trying to get him into year 6 of primary school.

What was wrong with him, to want to drop 3 years?

Sporadic school attendance throughout his life really so lots of gaps in his learning.

It's not hard to get a fake passport and birth certificate in most countries. Corruption can occur anywhere.

I’m not in the UK (ROI) the age range of kids in our schools varies up to 1.5 + years in each class group.

My DD started infants aged 4 in the June, she was the youngest in her year almost the whole way through school whereas my DS started the same infant class in September when he was turning 6 in December he was one of the eldest in his year group and has been since. So over 1.5 years in the difference fr starting age between them.

A girl joined DDs class for A level equivalent aged exactly to the day one year younger than DD because the girl skipped an optional year. There would be girls that girl’s class nearly up to 2.5 years older than her. That is absolutely normal here. People send children to school when they are ready for it not at a particular age.

Sports teams in schools are age graded though. A completely separate issue.

There is no “correct” age for exams - anyone can take exams at any age they wish to. There’s just the timing that they take place in the national curriculum.

Ok perhaps my friend is not saying the truth then. It's just that they appear south older in their bodies and their maturity so I believed my friend.
I know that our school only asked for both certificates and photocopies of passports all that could easily be fraudulently made. Sports teams especially create age sensitive issues.

I have come across some evidence of ‘age fraud’ with a couple of children who are refugees travelling alone.
Kids that have come off the back of a lorry and have no documentation.
We had one lovely lad who come to us claiming to be 11. That’s what he’d told social services but looking at him it was clear that this was unlikely. He was placed in the system as though he was 11.
What your describing though is not the same thing. As others have said, private schools can admit them at any age they choose.

If they're overseas students the home office will have seen their original passport in order to issue their visa. Schools usually sponsor that visa. Their sponsorship would be removed (meaning they could no longer have overseas pupils) if they were found not to have done things properly.

All children have the right to be educated out of year group in UK state schools and, obviously, with a private school, they can make similar decisions.

No racist dogwhistling fake passports required.

I do think this is a thing.
In my school we have a few boys who have come from other countries that look like men.

I also remember the same in a previous school.

Perception may not be reality. My daughter has a September birthday and is always one of the oldest in her class. She has friends in the same year who are basically a year younger than her.

She is also very tall (daddy is 6'4") and literally towers over many of the girls in her year. She also already has some curves and could pass for way older.

She is also an only child and is very good at having mature conversations with adults etc

By your logic she could be one of these age fakers, but the reality is that she is just tall and good at acting older.

Kids completely mature at different speeds - and around puberty it can get super hard to define what is "normal" for an age.

This logic is flawed.

It’s quite common in private schools for ESL students to be a year older. This can of course amount to two years. My DD is a late August birthday. A friend was nearly 2 years older. She was 19 for all of y13. Early September birthday. My DD wasn’t 18 at school at all.

Some ethnic backgrounds can just look older than white British due to height, general build or things like having darker or thicker facial hair. It doesn't mean they're men pretending to be children. I taught several year 6s from Pakistani backgrounds. They often towered over me and had the start of a beard. All of them were born and raised in the UK and had been in age appropriate nursery/school years all along.

Heck, my own son is white British and is often mistaken for being a year older than he is because of his height and build. And he's a toddler where a year age difference is far more apparent.

No it’s not that. I have taught or almost 20 years many many students of all sort of ethic backgrounds.
It’s not the height nor facial hair it is an ‘essential maturity’ that is just different. Call it intuition or call it experience of working with so many teenagers.