Renting to get into a school

[twee1]

So by my reckoning I think this is the fourth professional working couple I have heard of who has rented to get their child into a school.

I do not know this latest couple well at all but was introduced to them in passing by some local friends so my sniping is about a true case I am not making this up.

Latest example just seems so blatant, they move to a new road, rent a new place in a street that now locals can not afford, put their home out to rent and voila - right before the school year suddenly they manage to get a place in one of the outstanding primary schools in Greenwich.

I have friends who live further out than where they are, but not by much we are talking about the next street away and for the last two years these existing homeowners just can't get their children into their most local school in part due to the high demand for renters closer to the school. My friends have accepted schools further out.

I fire I just really wonder how do people have the cheek? I don't believe it is a case of their not being a decent choice either but obviously you need enough money and cheek to mobilise and fake moving house for a while without being caught.

Do council rules not apply when schools become academies? It is just that in Greenwich it seems so prevalent.

How do you stop this sort of thing?

Also my children are not impacted so I don't really know why I find it so annoying - I think it is just the injustice and the attitude that goes with it - like the spouting of people along the lines of "oh little johnny or Jill got in thankfully we had to pull some strings otherwise we would have had to pay private etc etc "

Rant over...maybe I just need to accept the inequality and move on ....

yeah I'm tangentially talking talking about the people moving in for a year so they just meet the min legal requirement. Good luck with your complaint Op!

Perhaps lotteries are the only properly fair way to allocate...

tiggytape see the thing is they will rent it I am sure long enough and no doubt have the cheek and resources to come up with some plausible reason.

I support they may just continue renting to get first child and others in and not move back for years - but I know it was all a fix.

I will be complaining but as I do not know them well I will just have to make a general complaint and hope at least they are questioned about it - school has started anyhow.

Sorry that meant to say I suppose they will continue renting ....

Is this fraud? Doesn't it only become fraud once/if they move back .

Yes do report OP. Councils do rely partly on reporting to be able to implement their fairness rules.

Maybe the family will be able to show a plausible reason why they had to move out of their owned house and rent a few streets nearer to school. Or maybe the council will decide to let it go as term has started. But at least the council will be aware this is still going on.

Yes I think the general consensus is that I should report, they may well get away with it but hopefully something can be done for next year. Mind you the gentrification of that area may mean people impacted with a school further away may move, leaving just families similar.

We don't know of anyone in Camden who has had a school place taken away from them Tiggytape . It certainly didn't happen in that especially fraught year.

Imagine you have residence for your child but you are denied a school place for that child. They're only 4, the council will find them a school eventually... The Non resident parent lives in an area where there are plenty of schools and goes to court to get residency as they can educate the child. All because so many of the school places have been taken by fraudulent applicants over the years. If not that particular year then it's the siblings stretching way back.

Twee I'd love to tell you about some of the things certain parents did after getting their "fraudulent" school places but it would get the MN lawyers on the scene faster than a fast thing. The brass neck of fine people.

Off for a pizza ...

Thanks tiggy, I hadn't seen that article although I did know about the one family who lost the EP place.

I hope Camden are doing their bit but I'm not convinced- I know camden too well

It makes me so glad I live in area without all these problems. People send their kids to the nearest school, on the whole, without all the fuss.
When I moved from Herts to East Yorks, I didn't traipse around worrying.
Luckily, I had a primary and secondary school pretty much on my doorstep that I just contacted and my children were accepted . Both schools have been in and out of special measures during their time and both are now classed as good. Both my eldest have been to uni and my youngest about to.
They have all had good education without the hassle.
Children in our town usually get to go to their closest school. There are two secondary and 6 primary schools ( one a RC school) There are a few village primaries around two further afield secondaries some people choose to go to, and a very good private school about 15 miles away that a few people choose.( The nearest RC secondary is 18 miles away which some of the RC primary school children go to ).
The fact most of the schools are 'good' doesn't seem to have made much difference to house prices. Only one primary school is an academy, through their own choice, not because OFSTED said so.

Well I saw a different friend today who has children in reception at a normal but good Greenwich primary but not the outstanding one that people go to great lengths to get in.

She is a social butterfly and her strong belief that there are at least three different children who have parents who worked the system and cheated and got away with it for the same outstanding school.

My friend said I shouldn't bother reporting as she thinks the parents concerned would cause issues for other normal students and teachers if they did have to change schools and would just monopolise their time to make sure everything was right for them. She doesn't want them anywhere near the other schools and think they would just be a total pain and not worth their associated drama. Also she believes they won't be that welcomed to the school either saying people will just fake it to them.

I don't see what your friend has got to do with it. If you think it is wrong - pls report it.

No teacher would treat a child differently according to how they got in to a school - most of the time you don't even know.

If people can be bothered to go to the trouble of moving then good luck to them. It's a massive hassle and if they're prepared to make that sacrifice then fair enough. My kids go to an outstanding primary but the local state secondary is crap so many many people move 10 minutes away to get into one of the two outstanding secondaries in the area. I don't agree with the argument that you are taking a place from someeone else - we all pay the same tax (in fact, some of us a lot more than others) so why should someone living close by have greater rights than someone out of catchment? That's not fair either. The whole system isn't fair so people will do what they have to do. From what I have heard, so long as you actually live in the house and your other place is rented out when you apply and when they start school then there is nothing the council can do. It's hard to argue it's a temporary home if you've been living there 18 months, unless their admissions criteria specifically states a minimum period. I don't think I would take the risk but I have nothing against those who do, especially if the only other option is sending your kids to a crap school.