School places dilemma

skintchick

I have been wrestling with this for a while now, and am not sure what to do.

As you know, primary school places are being allocated in a couple of weeks.

I heard a few weeks ago that one of the mums at my DD's preschool has lied on her application, and said that they live at her mum's address, so that they can get into the school associated with the preschool, when in fact they live too far away to get in, and in the catchment of another (very good and IMO better) school.

At the time, I felt that it was really wrong she should do this. The school has always been heavily oversubscribed, and last year even people living in my road (just round the corner) didn't get in, as it was a very unusual year and there were loads of siblings.

I haven't applied to that school and in fact nor have most of my friends, so this is not about me wanting a place! But I feel it's really wrong to lie about where you live in order to get in. I know it goes on, but now I know about it I feel I should report her.

What would you do? She's been very open about having done it - my husband overheard her talking about it in the preschool lobby during a drop-off, in front of everyone.

thunderbird

I wouldn't get involved

TeamLowe

you can report it anonymously to your admissions authority- there's lots of this every year and they do want to know.

they'll ask your friend to prove that they live at her mum's address- usually by asking for a council tax bill in their name and/or rental contract or solicitor's letter confirming purchase.

they can ask this of any parent at any time but tend not to due to the work involved and do 'spot checks'.

If a place is given due to false information it can be taken away at any time but it's unusual for this to happen after the children have started school as it's not fair on the child to snatch them out of a school they're settled in through no fault of their own.

if your friend is stupid enough to go bragging about it then i'd put good money on her being reported, especially if other parents do not get a place who heard her. i had a day of appeals for a popular school in my area last year and every single parent said 'what do you to check addresses, cos some people lie'
it was clear they all knew of someone and were prepared to 'shop them' to get their child in to the school.
and the advice from the education officer was always - tell us who and we'll deal with it.

ETA- is the preschool a state preschool? if she applied for the preschool at her home address and then the school from her mum's address, she'll be asked to prove the change of address is genuine as a matter of course anyway in my borough. they may be waiting to do that until after places have been allocated as that's a massive job in itself.

gingin_2

skintchick wrote: »

I heard a few weeks ago that one of the mums at my DD's preschool has lied on her application, and said that they live at her mum's address, so that they can get into the school associated with the preschool, when in fact they live too far away to get in, and in the catchment of another (very good and IMO better) school.

If you heard it from someone else rather than the person themselves then I would not get involved. Can you be sure it's true? From experience I can remember that parents can get quite nasty, jealous and competitive over school places and it sends the gossip grapevine into overdrive.

skintchick

gingin wrote: »

If you heard it from someone else rather than the person themselves then I would not get involved. Can you be sure it's true? From experience I can remember that parents can get quite nasty, jealous and competitive over school places and it sends the gossip grapevine into overdrive.

It was my husband who heard her. I trust him! He was really surprised how open she was being about it.

gingin_2

skintchick wrote: »

It was my husband who heard her. I trust him! He was really surprised how open she was being about it.

Well, that's a different matter and shocking behaviour!

It's sad because they are probably denying someone else a place. So yes, I'd do what was morally right and look into saying something to the admissions team. Then they can look into it and decide either way.

notanewuser

I'd report it.

Our local authority demand proof of where you live for every application. If you report the LA will ask for a council tax bill or whatever, which they have the right to do anyway. It's not on that an entitled child may miss out on a place because of a fraudulent application by another.

FatVonD

I think report them too, be warned though that I spent a fortune moving house to get my son into a better primary school only to find the child of someone from my old road (several miles away) in the same class because they'd used their parent's address and my reply may be influenced by this :rotfl:

skintchick

Seems to be a bit of a consensus here! Will get up the courage to phone later.

I do wonder why they don't just require a council tax bill as part of the application. No spot checks needed then - they'd have them all to hand to check. Also, as everything is online surely the councils could get a computer programme that cross checks? I guess some people will always lie if they think they can get away with it.

pop37

We had this a few years ago, (being vague deliberately) a preschool worker shopped a parent who did the same thing, she wanted the place for her child. End result the parent who lied lost the place and the preschool worker did not get the place as she hoped but also lost the respect of the parents and other staff as she had used confidential info to do it.

seabright

Report it. We had to give our Council Tax bill account number on our application. I'm also in a heavily over subscribed area and would have no issue in reporting someone making a fraudulant application