Disgruntled parent accusing us of fraud

[PMP3]

Hi

Thanks for reading this, I’m totally stressed out.

There’s a parent who’s very upset her DC3 didn’t get into the same school as her DC1+2 (out of catchment, where admissions favours in catchment before siblings out of catchment). She’s basically tried to pick holes in everyone else’s applications as she things she’s number 1 priority in the waiting list. She’s targeted and reported, we think, several people challenging various points as fraud such as time spent at each parents not being correctly disclosed and a few for temporary addresses.

We fall under the temporary address group she’s targeting. We moved into our previous rented property in October 2020, having sold our old house (about 10 miles across the city). We had been buying, but the purchase side of our chain collapsed and as we knew we needed to leave our old home to be living in the area we wanted to settle (where I grew up) we still sold and moved into rented accommodation. We immediately started looking to buy again and had an offer accepted on a house closer to the school. We thought this would be exchanged by the cutoff date for applications but it wasn’t, so our old address was used for the school application. We got into the local school and since then have completed and moved in to the new house, closer to the school.

It didn’t cross my mind that we could be seen as doing anything wrong here, circumstances dictated we had to rent and with buying closer to the school I didn’t even consider this as an issue. I have kept the admissions authority up to date with our move already.

Is there any way the place could be withdrawn? We’ve moved closer so would be higher priority to when we originally applied, and surely if our application was reassessed we’d be top of the waiting list even if our place was withdrawn?

Sorry for the wall of text, this has just really stressed me out in an already stressful year.

I too don't understand how she has info on 30 other families. Is she someone you class as a friend? Anyway as long as you were honest with the LA you won't loose your place. Sounds like she's desperate and lost the plot a bit.

How is this lunatic finding out all this information about everyone? Has she hired an ineffectual PI or what?! And like someone else said, she’s going to be a total pariah if the kid ever does get in and I’d be worried about that affecting the child.

She ran the risk of out of catchment siblings rule. Her risk. She's mad that it didn't work out. That's no one else's fault.
With split families, the main residence should be used. Maybe she knows someone who did put the 'wrong' address down. It does happen. But loads have 50-50 custody and how would she know what's agreed?!?!?

As long as you used the house you were resident in at the time of application and informed the council when you moved within a few days, there's nothing to worry about. She is the one who should have moved her kids to a closer school!

You haven't done anything wrong so the parent doesn't have a leg to stand on. As she has complained about so many, I doubt anybody at the education authority or school would take much notice of her now anyway.

It must be disappointing if you have set your heart on a particular school for your child but such is life, she will get over it and find another school.

Please stop worrying.

Again, I highlight that she’s just a busybody with busybody friends where the children concerned have spend the last 8 months in nursery together. People chat at pick ups and we all generally get on.

I don’t think she knows we rented, just that we moved, and I’m not sure if she knows we moved closer. I don’t think she’s got any ‘evidence’ of the living arrangements of anyone in particular and is just accusing any single parent of manipulating facts.

As someone said, I think she’s just desperate.

To be fair to her, it's tough having children in separate schools and unless the other school is next door, the school run will be a pain. If it were me I'd be trying to find a way to get my child in. That being said, I don't think you've done anything wrong. You're in the catchment area permanently now. It's not like you rented to get in there and went back to your old house outside of the catchment area.

it only happened due to a chain break as part of our sale and the house we were trying to buy was very close and where we knew we wanted to live.

You will have evidence of this, so even if there were an investigation (big if) you can provide the evidence.

Please don’t worry about this, OP. You did nothing wrong, and you household bills etc from each address back you up. She’s acting stupidly.

The main thing here @PMP3 is that you didn’t do anything illegal, or even remotely dodgy.

I get that she’ll be pissed off and I know I would be if I had 2 kids in different sx hooks, but who knows, maybe a place will be found if someone moves etc.

You can sympathise with her, but she can’t make anything at all difficult for you.

If the information you have given here is true then you have nothing to worry about.
She can report what she wants to who she wants but if there is no fraud nothing will happen.

Fuck having sympathy for her when she’d see your child kicked out of their rightful place to make way for hers who didn’t get in on the criteria. Cow.

People are allowed to live in rented accommodation and to move house.

More than enough children lived in the priority area. That's how it works for some schools. Sometimes even that isn't enough. But schools can't offer unlimited spaces in England.

I can't see why the LA would have any issue with what you have done.

On a wider note, this is what happens when admissions fraud occurs. Other people get missed out. Every year there are threads with people contemplating 'playing' the system. There is always a subset of posters who support it under the 'I'd do anything for my child' or 'it doesn't hurt anyone'.

The other Mum might be clutching at straws. But also there may well be people who have 'tweaked' residency info to give their children an unfair allocation. You have been caught in the crossfire.

The LA will be well used to vindictive reporting and should be able to notice the difference between her numerous reports and a genuine one. From what you've said, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Provided you had sold your old house before putting the rented house down on the application, and kept the LA up to date, which it appears you have, no fraud has been committed and you will be fine.

She's also done herself no favours. If she does end up getting a place, her DC is going to be in a class with a bunch of kids she tried to have kicked out. She'll not be popular.

You’ve definitely not done anything wrong, what’s you’ve done isn’t the same as renting a flat in the catchment purely to get into the school and then ‘moving’ back home.

People get emotive on school places (I get it, it’s massive to your children’s life!). I got a Facebook message off a random person on offers day saying how on earth did you get a place living where you do?! She didn’t realise we had a sibling in year 5 at the time. As they were much older then my nursery child, they hadn’t seen them with me etc (he used to walk down to the car after school instead of me picking him up at the door and had no need to come to preschool birthday parties with us etc).

On a wider note, this is what happens when admissions fraud occurs. Other people get missed out.

How is this what happens when admissions fraud occurs? There’s nothing whatsoever to suggest that any admissions fraud has occurred. Kids are always going to be ‘missed out’ of their preferred schools while we have admissions criteria and limited class sizes.

I read your update. You were honest so you did absolutely nothing wrong. You informed them when you moved. If they had an issue then they would have spoken to you by now. But they wont because you did nothing wrong. Please ignore this woman!

I can see why she is upset if other children got places ahead of her DC through dishonesty.

But you know you were not dishonest so your DC got their place in all fairness.

Forget it.

Sounds like she was in denial that it could happen. It does. Often enough.

Thanks everyone, you’ve made me feel much better about this. I think I was just taken aback when I heard that she was about to report us.

As others have said, I’ve been honest throughout. The intention was always to move back to this area (the village we grew up in, from our old place nearer our work) before school. We therefore had a place in the school nursery arranged and were looking at houses to buy before COVID hit and everything was on hold. I do think if necessary I could fish out numerous emails evidencing our multiple failed attempts to move!

I do feel for the reporter that her siblings didn’t get in as this seems to be the first time in many years all siblings didn’t get in even if they lived out of catchment. However, this is totally outweighed by the fact she’s now trying to report anyone who she even has an inkling could possibly have gamed the system.

Stop worrying OP. You’ve not done anything wrong here.

You made an application using an address you were living in. It’s irrelevant that you knew you were living there on a short term basis until you moved to your permanent home.

It might surprise you to learn that lots of families live in unsecured rented accommodation and end up living in flats and houses on a very temporary basis, and have to move fairly frequently.

That’s just life and the LA won’t be remotely interested in reviewing your situation just because one parent is aggrieved to have not got the place she was expecting. Yes, it’s crap for her family and hopefully, someone else will move away from the area leaving a space for her child to attend, but it’s not your responsibility to placate her.

It was your only address at the time. Had your house purchase fallen through it might still be your address. Had your final address been out of catchment you might have been on shaky ground but you’re fine. Silly cow.

The LA is your admissions authority and you've been honest with them throughout. If you're worried ring them and reassure yourself but no, your place won't be withdrawn.
If she carries on bombarding them with complaints she can expect at some point for them to decide that she's a vexatious complainer and stop engaging with her.