No judgment please — has anyone actually been checked and removed from a school for being out of catchment?

[Uptownmom]

Hi all,

Please no judgment — I’m just looking to hear real experiences from other parents.

We own a flat in a good catchment area, which we currently rent out (it’s an HMO). At the moment, we’re living in a different part of the city that we really love and that works well for our family, but the local schools near us aren’t as strong as the ones in the catchment for our rental property.

Our baby is only 1 now, so school is still a few years off, but I’ve been thinking about the possibility of using our rental flat address to apply when the time comes — even though we won’t be living there full-time. I know it’s not the “correct” way to go about it, but like many parents, I want to give my child the best education I can without uprooting our lives unnecessarily or putting strain on us financially.

That said, I’m nervous about what could happen. Has anyone actually been checked and removed from a school for not truly living at the catchment address? Are councils really investigating this kind of thing? If so, how common is it, and how do they check?

I’d really appreciate any honest insight or stories — again, no judgment please. I’m just trying to understand the real-world risks and how this plays out in practice.

Worst case scenario they will prosecute you for doing this.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12111035/Mother-pretended-living-elderly-couples-home-son-London-school.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/mother-prosecuted-for-forging-document-to-win-a-school-place-9748574.html
https://www.itv.com/news/london/2016-09-06/scale-of-false-addresses-on-applications-as-london-parents-try-to-beat-school-catchment-area-system-revealed

They checked our address with 3 proofs of address, proof of council tax, tenancy agreement because we moved house within 14 days of putting in the application and they were really rude about it.

There was 1 child from DD class who had their place removed after a week. Of course we were not told what really happened at the time. But over the years it got out that they'd lied about living in the flats beside the school and forged a form on church attendance.

Our catchment area was a whole 600m that year. And only 1 of thr local churches counted for faith places - not any of the other much popular non CofE ones. We all had to provide Council tax bills and had home visits.

I know a family who live four doors (terraced street) from the local primary. Less than 100 feet. They didn’t get in because it’s oversubscribed. I bet that school does rigorous checks.
My son didn’t get into any of the four nearest schools. Oversubscribed. He was offered one on the other side of the borough which had a much worse rating and reputation. This is why he went to a private school.
OP I don’t agree with how they allocate spaces but falsifying your address is not the way to go to beat the system.

The answer is yes. If they find out you’ve got the place fraudulently they will withdraw the place. As they should. Your wanting the ‘best’ for your child shouldn’t come at the expense of someone else’s.

I like how you say you 'won't be living there full time'. You won't be living there at all, will you! A massive risk and really cheeky (putting it mildly) behaviour, IMO.

Yes I’m interested in why OP doesn’t want judgement on an anonymous forum yet would face judgement and resentment personally if they actually achieve their aim.

Gosh I wish I could have been a fly on the wall!

The way to do it to be completely safe is to move back into the flat for a year. 6 months before application move into the flat. Come September, move back to your house.

That way, you won’t have lied or done anything improper. It will all be above board.

Absolutely this - everyone locally was surprised that I didn't apply for the oversubscribed 'outstanding' primary round the corner and instead went for one slightly further away (still easy walking distance) rated good. I hadn't liked the outstanding school on the open day, it had last been inspected about 14 years before and they had a high turnover of staff including three Heads in the last four years. A few months after applications the outstanding school was downgraded to requires improvement. Things can change very quickly...

I was a teacher for 25 years.This is why l think kids should go to the local school.

A school is part of a local community.

Plus a short journey home leaves plenty of time for playing, relaxing and also for tutors and extra curriculars - all of which probably make at least as much difference to attainment as how many "Ofsted boxes" a school has ticked

@OPare you actually asking for advice on a public forum about your chances of getting away with fraud? Disgusting.

I was the presenting officer for the appeal - it was ICS so there was a lot of questions about how we processed the application, how we checked the address, etc. The parent started off very arrogantly but the panel were livid - one of the questions asked was 'Why do you expect the process of the Appeals Code to be followed when you didn't follow the Admissions Code?'. The panel chair was particularly cutting!

We left our catchment “outstanding” primary for a “good” school further away. In fact that even got downgraded while we were there but I hadn’t noticed at the time! Best thing we did - it had a much better atmosphere and the children flourished. We hadn’t really taken notice of either on paper.

That may not work if the address used is currently an HMO and if your current house is not sold.

Councils who are on the ball with admissions fraud often gave specific ‘blacklist addresses’ -like HMOs and small flats very close to very popular schools - from which any application is automatically subject to close scrutiny and verification. Owning another house within commuting distance would then flag the application as definitely fraudulent, and the onus is on the applicant to prove that the application is genuine, not the council to prove beyond doubt that it is fraud.

I think the issue is that the system is not fair to all children because the best schools are surrounded by houses costing ££££, meaning the children of parents who can’t afford to move into the catchment end up in the challenging schools that everyone else is trying to avoid.

I don’t say this as a criticism - I have no idea how to make the system fairer because I can see the obvious issues with a lottery approach, especially for primary schools, and I am not sure what fairer alternatives there are. Some people complain about sibling policies being unfair but they are there for a reason because it is a logistical nightmare to get two primary aged children to two different schools on time. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don’t inherently see much difference between buying in catchment and moving into a flat in catchment for application purposes. The system is rubbish and people are doing what they can to gain an advantage within that system.

And how do you prepare your young child to lie to their friends when asked where they live?

When another parent suggests a play date what do you do? Do you refuse them all and deny your child friends?

Think about the logistics of it all.

The obvious solution is to invest in improving the "bad" schools. Often the "best" schools are just relying on reputation and the parents improving the results through tutoring and pressure.

If the school is so important to you, you need to move into your rented flat. You have three years to plan for this.

Location fraud like this leads to vulnerable children, who got into the school out of catchment for legitimate reasons, at risk of being unfairly stigmatised and targeted.

Children with EHCPs, kids who have been in care, and/or (in certain local authorities) children entitled to Early Years Pupil Premium do get priority over local children for reception entry.

Location fraud puts parents of these children in the awkward position of having to explain their child's personal circumstances or else be shunned because it is unfairly assumed that they have cheated the system. Everybody loses.

Consider that your child will have to lie to their classmates about where they live. One of my child’s classmates did something similar and the parents lived in fear that a parent would report them.

As I said above, this may not be enough if you still own your current house or another ‘family’ property within commuting distance.

Best option would be to sell your current property, find a new one in the desired catchment, and use that address.

This would explain the story I heard - friend of a friend rented very small flat (family of five) on the same road as the best secondary in the area. Recommended to someone else who did same a year later. They then recommended to someone else who got rejected - I guess the council eventually got wind of the situation and clamped down!

I have a close relative who is in senior exec of an over subscribed school and on quiet days they do cold call door knocks on addresses for people at the top of the waitlist to really check if they live there! If it seems like they don't, they call in a couple of times over a few weeks, then invite the family to explain. May be your school does similar.

DH works in education for a large MAT. They are alive to all the tricks and take action when they find out.