Wrong address on School Admission - please help!

[namestresses]

Hi All,

I need your help - I am so stuck, I just don't know what to do.

When we applied for a primary school place, we lived at house X, close to our preferred school but out of catchment. Catchment is a not-so good school.

We moved house in April, just up the road to house Y, same catchment as the not so good school but slightly further from the preferred school.

We got the letter in May saying we hadn't got into the preferred school and we had got into the catchment one. Disappointing, but unsurprising since preferred school is oversubscribed. Went on waiting list for preferred school.

ANYWAY... (sorry for long story history!)

I got a letter yesterday saying that we had been offered a place in preferred school! I was SO SO SO happy I screamed.
Until DH pointed out that the letter was redirected from old house X.
The LEA didn't have our new address.
I informed the council but didn't realise the LEA was a separate 'entity' as it were.

I feel sick. I mean, I actually feel physically ill. I don't know what to do. Accept the place and change address with the school once we start, or tell the LEA we aren't at that address and lose the place we wanted?

We WERE at house X when we applied. I THOUGHT I had done the right thing by notifying the council. But now I am so worried that if I am honest and correct it now that I know my mistake, I will lose a place we so desperately wanted.
Can anyone offer advice? Please be kind - I was naive and I feel like an idiot already, I don't need to be flamed :(

No LEA in the country can withdraw a place because the parents refuse a home visit. It may be a standard procedure, it may be frowned upon not to accept but they would be breaking the law if the withdrew a place based on this. Anyway, schools themselves cannot withdraw places. That would need to be the LEA and only under exceptional circumstances. Falso application information would be one of them but not refusing to have the teacher visit the week before term starts.

The only issue with refusing a home visit if it is expected is that it could raise suspicions that could lead to the school investigating the OP a little further - and finding the discrepancy in addresses. I entirely agree that a place cannot be withdrawn because of a refused home visit BUT in a case like this where a place SHOULD be withdrawn because the OP is unlikely to have been allocated it correctly, then a refused home visit might set off a chain of events that could lead to the place being withdrawn IYSWIM?

A home visit is not compulsory and of its own accord could not be a reason to remove the school place.
The problem is that refusal of a school visit, if it actually happens now, could precipitate more questions that will uncover what has actually happened.

I think any parent is going to whatever they think is best for their child.

I do think, OP, that in your first few posts you seem sooooo dramatic about the whole thing that it makes me think you perhaps did know exactly what you were doing and this isn't an innocent mistake at all.

But i don't really blame you, you are doing it for the good of your son. But do be careful how you react if you are questioned because if you are too defensive they might think the same as me!

I would just say you are on holiday during the last two weeks of the school holidays. Lots of parents must be.

what whostolemyname said

whostolemyname I agree with you. I think OP was aware of what she was doing too. Forgive me if I am wrong. I just think that most of the parents need to feel in a paper or on line application form where you need to give your home address. You cannot just give your old address there because you had given a new one to the Council.
However, we all want best for our children.

Lovefruits-at teh time she applied she was living at the old house, she didn't move til April which would be 6 or so months later I guess

I wondered when it would descend to 'you sound overly dramatic, I reckon you knew what you were doing'.

MN, as much as I love it, sadly does tend to go that way. Some people don't seem to be happy unless there is a conspiracy.

I didn't know. DH showed me the envelope with the redirect on when I was excitedly telling DC they could go to the same school as one of their nursery friends. We get a lot of redirect mail, mainly junk, I hardly notice it any more.

It doesn't matter to me really if you believe me or not. I didn't think I was particularly dramatic - fact is when you realise you have cocked up, you get that massive sinking feeling in your gut and panic did set in (hence me posting!)
After I realised my mistake, I read news stories and MN stories about what can happen looking for information, and saw coverage of women in the US going to jail for fraud, and I got myself in a right state. Then I posted because I wanted advice, and help, from people that knew how things worked better than I did.

The reason I didn't post over the weekend is because I realised I was getting a bit too strung out and worried and decided to step back from the situation so I could think more clearly. I am pretty sure I said as much at the time.

Sometimes, even level headed people have a little panic. It doesn't mean they are trying to cover anything up. What would be the point in my coming on here and lying? I wanted help for MY situation, not a fabricated one. What benefit is there for me to gain by telling a lie on an anonymous forum? It's not like YOU are the people that decide my fate, I have nothing to prove or gain to a bunch of strangers!

So there you have it.
I thank the people that have given me clear advice and opinions, and shared their own experiences with me. Some panicked me, some calmed and reassured me, but all up they helped me make an informed decision about what to do.

The people that suspect a lie - well... I don't know what to say. Maybe it says more about you than me. I have nothing to gain on this forum by being anything other than honest. But thanks anyway for taking the time to post.

Glad you made a decision that suits you-I probably would have done the same, more nervous partner would not.

I do think, though, that you could actually find out whether you have done anything critical without revealing your hand. If you can't find out online, ring up, say you are thinking of visiting schools for admission next year, but that your tenancy runs out between admissions and going to school and that you might move. See if in that case you have to inform and, if you are on a waiting list, which address would be used. It is the sort of thing any parent applying next year would wish to know, surely, both for choosing a new house and for applying to their best advantage? If you are 'wrong' you're already living with that, if not you can give his new teacher a cup of tea and love the school.

I say that because it is not clear that the original, quite genuine address, is not the one that should have been used-variations across the country, and it might calm you a little. I also say it because you really don't want to be thinking of your DC's educators as little members of the LA Stasi, refusing home visits, out of misplaced fear.

Just out of interest, do any teachers here really get involved in admissions to the extent that in this case they would query it? I for one and glad to be out of the loop-I wouldn't insert myself into it again on some vague suspicion.

I would not normally query it as a teacher BUT as a parent with a locally very over-subscribed (and previously much defrauded, therefore now hyper-vigilant in admission terms) secondary school I would be aware that it might be an issue and so might be more inquisitive than a 'normal' teacher would be IYSWIM?

The thing is, in many areas the OP could be living where she lives and have a place quite legitimately, if for example she had lived right next to the school when offered a place in the normal admissions round, then moved since. The rules about whether you have to still be living in the 'application' address at the time of actual admission vary, and can be quite lax in places where fraudulent applications are rare, while being very prescriptive where such applications are a known and common problem.

The secondary school I refer to actively solicits information about fraudulent or suspicious applications from staff, from other parents, from the council and from the general public via press articles - I suspect that this level of vigilance is rare.

@namestresses

Whilst you applied in good faith when you applied way back when last year, you are now playing the system and know you are or wouldn't be on here to find out how to lessen the chances of getting caught. (Had you been a bit more upfront with your OP I wouldn't be now).

By continuing to redirect your mail to postpone telling the school your new address and giving them old council tax bills to 'prove' your address - that is fraudulent, can't be deemed owt else.

So in the first week of term when parents are usually asked to confirm their contact details - names, address, home phone, mobile etc you are still not going to actively change the address then? and your child has to either pretend he doesn't know his address or give the old one?
What's the difference between what you are doing and others pretending their child lives at Grandma's address etc?

It's possible/credible you 'forgot' to inform the LEA directly April-July
It's understandable you accepted the place having got to the top of the list
It's possible/credible you didn't notice the envelope

but it's highly unlikely you forgot to mention it on any associated admin from September whilst bandying about old/incorrect council tax bills, avoiding home visits, other mums and redirecting your mail to keep up the deceit.

Mybrain,

The OP knows that she is now being fraudulent. She has decided to remain fraudulent unless actively investigated, in which case she will admit her fraud and take the consequences.

She has judged these risks to be acceptable and has balanced them against the potential benefit of her child having a place in this school - essentially she has said that the risk-reward balance is acceptable to her.

Some other posters feel that the balance would also be acceptable to them, others not. Others still have asked whether the OP could find out for certain whether the deceit is necessary, though from the information she has provided this seems likely.

As people outside the situation, each of us can decide whether we would judge the situation the same way - whether 'my child above all' would trump 'acting dishonestly' and whether the possible benefit of 'having my child in a particular school' would trump the possible disbenefit of 'child being removed from a school for fraudulent admission'. However, rest assured that the OP does know that she is behaving actively dishonestly and has chosen to do so.

teacherwith2kids - yep.
And I'm not proud of it either.

I still fret about my decision. It's all a mess and for me it's about trying to find the balance between keeping the place (which I do want) and lying through my teeth to keep it (which I will not do, I'd rather face the consequences and hope for the best).

Anyway. I don't want this thread to digress into a personality assassination. I'm well aware of my failings, stupidity in this case being one of them.

Best wishes all, over and out.

We never had home visits and I don't think it is something our school did. The school is the only one wthin walking distance so it is slightly easier to get a place there and we don't live that close.

I think you are taking a big risk. You may have started off making a genuine error but now you are deliberately committing fraud and it will your son who suffers more if he has to leave the school, not you.

You could check this out and there be no problem and then you can legitably keep the place and have no worries. The next time you have to give address detaiils will be when you are found to have no informed them and you run the risk of no places left at the not so good school either.

You made a choice to live in this area knowing the schools weren't great so you have to accept it if your child ends up at a school that5 isn't great.

namestresses- most mnetters seem to just be getting on their high horse.. they'd probably keep shtum abt change of address had they been in your position (waits to get shot down!) but, anyway- i say keep the new place your child got at the better school- if the school make a hoo haa abt it (i doubt they will) , take it in your stride and deal with it then. i, for one, would be counting myself lucky and jumping for joy if i were you! i hope it works out for the best. the hassle is worth it- if only, for a better education for your little un. plus, you'll change the address at a 'later' stage anyway- so no harm done

SSS,

As it happens, I would communicate my change of address - but that is because I would judge the balance of risk and reward differently from the OP.

That is not really why i am posting. You state 'no harm done', and that is sadly incorrect. As well as a potential harm to the OP's child if they are asked to leave, there is also a certain harm to the child who should correctly have got the place .. further down the page is a post by a mum whose child does not have a school place in a close-by primary and who is stuck on a waiting list. We cannot both support the OP on this thread AND the OP on the other, essenitally we as MNetters (as well as the admissions teams, and society as a whole) have to decide which has the better claim to our support.

I would also communicate my change of address. It is possible that the OP's child would still have the place even if she told them the correct address. Even if she lost the place she would have a case for appeal on the basis that she told the LA of her new address before this place was offered and the LA is out of time to withdraw the place on the basis of their own mistake. It would then be down to how the appeal panel viewed the situation. They may think that the OP should have told admissions (which is probably what it says in the LA's admissions booklet) but it may be possible to persuade them that the LA should be able to pass change of address information to the appropriate departments. Whether that would fly as a case depends on the appeal panel but it is certainly worth a try.

By not communicating the change of address the OP risks losing the place even after her child starts school. Also, as teacherwith2kids points out, if her child wouldn't get the place from her correct address she is depriving another child of a place that is rightfully theirs. That is, of course, a matter for the OP's conscience but I couldn't do that.

So if it were me I would inform the LA of my new address in a way that made it clear I thought they had made a mistake ("don't know why you sent this to my old address, I informed the LA of my new address months ago") and appeal if they withdrew the place.

We told the school about the change of address during an informal meeting in July (the Council got our new home address in June). It was not our fault that we had to move out. We tried to find a house in the catchment area but there was nothing. The school sent a "message" to LA and in August 2010 we got a letter from them to confirm our new address. In addition to this we had attached a letter from our agents confirming the reasons why we HAD to move out and that there was nothing to rent in the area. We did not receive any answer from LA. I was worried constantly but they did not take the place.

I said it earlier but everyone ignored me so I'll say it again. Why is what the OP is doing any worse than what people do who play the system to get into faith schools? Many many people on MN have said that they would have no qualms about that. What is the difference. The OP may be depriving a nearer child of a place, people who pretend to be Catholic deprive a genuinely Catholic child of a place. But when I said that on another thread it was tought titty.

Gwendoline -Because in a faith school the parents are ,meeting the criteria eg baptising DC, attending church x times per month. Thgey are not swearing that they really 'believe'.That is not a criterion.
In the OPs case she is not meeting the criteria-she lives at teh wrong address!

But the argument against faith schools is that, as a state school, the criteria is, or should be automatically met simply by being a child of school age. Same applies here. The OP lives down the road, not in another county.

I can't see why this is such a big deal.

have only skimmed through this but why don't you (OP) call the LEA as a prospective parent and say that you may need to move post application closing date and what would be the procedure, whether it would affect place allocation? Then you can decide what to do based on accurate info rather than worrying unnecessarily?

I think that it will only affect the place allocation if someone else on waiting list is living nearer. That would be my course of action.

Gwendoline - Whatever you think of faith schools their admission criteria are based on church attendance. If you attend church/get baptised or whatever else it says in the school's admission criteria you have met the criteria and your application is not fraudulent. You are entitled to the place if you get it. You are not denying another child a place that is rightfully theirs. You may not consider yourself to be an Anglican/Catholic/whatever but that doesn't matter because that isn't part of the admission criteria. A more accurate comparison with the OP would be someone who persuades the vicar to sign the form saying they attend church regularly when they haven't attended since their child was christened. That would be fraudulent (and would actually be somewhat worse than what the OP is doing).

Whether the OP is being fraudulent is debatable but she is certainly being unwise in my view. By keeping quiet she is risking losing the place any time up until Christmas. Losing the place in that way could make an appeal harder to win - I would expect an appeal panel to be less sympathetic to a parent who took up a place knowing that the LA had offered it on the basis of an incorrect address without making any attempt to rectify the situation. She may also be depriving another child of a place that is rightfully theirs. If she is honest about her move the LA may not take the place away. If they do she can appeal and I think the appeal may be winnable based on the argument that she informed the Council of her new address so it is their problem if they offered a place based on her old address.