Buckinghamshire Council Home Visit during Primary Application for Address Check

[Rockclimber67]

Hello -
We think we will be in a position where we own a property and are renting another at the same time (in Amersham)

We are hoping to get into Chestnut Lane school. In these circumstances would Bucks council do a home visit to check the 'main address'?

Thanks!

What a scummy thing to do. You’re openly admitting you’re going to attempt to break the rules and shoehorn your kid in over and above another child who actually lives closer? Just because you’re rich enough to temporarily rent a house that’s closer. Hope someone reports and you get caught.

OP you won’t believe me. But I work in Bucks council education. Don’t do this. They can and will find out that you have applied fraudulently and they can and will remove the place. We are a grammar school area with much nonsense over school applications and they are far cleverer than you obviously think. Home visits and other checks will happen.

Hey I live nowhere near this school but please may someone enlighten me on why it’s so special? Im so invested especially when I found out someone would do this for reception clas?

I'm glad your child is doing well, but invoking another child's suicide to make yourself feel happier that yours didn't get into grammar school is frankly disgusting. Suicide, whenever it happens is tragic, and to try and pin it on "probably because they were at grammar school" is actually quite unpleasant. Imagine if their parents were reading this.

That’s not what I meant. You have inferred a lot.

Specifically relating to the suicide, what did you mean then?

Wow, I’ve heard of parents doing this but I’m shocked that OP is so blatant about it. Even down to naming the schools and distances involved. I don’t think this is a particularly good idea, OP 🤦‍♀️

It's OK - whether she names them on here or not, it will be blatantly obvious to Bucks CC that the rental address is not the primary address and the application will be treated as coming from the owned address. They don't need to trawl MN for evidence.

Quite simply that the reality may not be as good as the image. Some schools are amazingly good at self-promotion.

You have read things between the lines of what I wrote that I did most certainly did not mean. Perhaps I wrote it in a clumsy manner.!

So please do enlighten me, what exactly was your point around suicide please, if it wasn’t to suggest that it was because of the school system?

Why did you bring it into the conversation? Why did you think it appropriate to use a family’s grief to score an (incorrect as it happens) point?

Would you have said to avoid a particular primary school as you heard a child there died of cancer? Do you see how that makes you sound?

In fairness, one of our reasons for not applying to grammar school for our very academic dc was to do with the much higher incidence of mental health issues in our local grammar. Lots of anecdotal eating disorders, self harm and other types of distress going on.

I always felt our very driven child was vulnerable to distress under pressure and therefore chose our nearest catchment school, despite it being RI. She has emerged with stellar grades but no eating disorder, for which I am very grateful.

I agree with the general points that this poster was making- 'better' isn't better for everyone and this nonsense about moving for schools based on social hierarchy or incremental SATs score differences is very unlikely to result in real benefit to your own child.

I knew of it in an Amersham school. That family actually got away with it because the headteacher "guided" them on how long they should stay living in the rental for. I worked with the mother and she told me herself, but only at the end point.

They moved out and took the opportunity to upgrade their house, so it wasn't habitable, then moved back in with great fanfare when the younger child completed Yr 1. I think the older child had managed to get in despite being out of catchment, but the younger child wouldn't have their year. Or they ran the scam with both children, I'm not sure.

They did their time actually living in a very small flat rather than just pretending to. Not that I approved, as I knew people who genuinely lived in catchment who didn't get in due to distance.

Its similar to avoid paying double council tax on a second home by getting a family member to register themselves as living there. To make it work you have to be on the electoral role. pay council tax and be registered as the payee for utility bills, phone, broadband etc. It also helps to register with the local GP. I know one person who has successfully done this.

People do this but not many would be bold/unwise enough to tell the internet

To be fair, there have been many such threads where there have been a fair few responses along the lines of, Good on you, if you can afford to do it, we all want what's best for our precious DC etc. The OP has been a bit unlucky with the universal calling a spade a spade (pointing out that this is address fraud and detailing the possible consequences with no softener that the poster thinks that this would be terribly unfair) and condemnation of their proposed course of action.

You don't "live between 2 houses". You are being a CF and renting temporarily to get into a better school. That's really shitty.