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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

Rented flat to get a place in a 2ndary in good catchment - would you tell on them?

76 replies

SecondhandRose · 21/08/2006 19:48

A friend of mine is really cross as a friend of hers rented a flat in a good area to use it as an address to get her child into an excellent local 2ndary school. They paid £900 a month plus bills for the flat but didn't live there.

Her child has now got a place in this school and mine friend is even more cross. To top it all her husband has a cash job, claims he earns £12K a year and then claims benefits when in reality he earns much more and is not entitled to the benefits.

So the moral dilemma is shall I tell the school for my friend who doesn't feel she can tell the school but is so cross with her friend she feels someone should.

OP posts:

Report

morningpaper · 21/08/2006 19:49

no

rabbitrabbit · 21/08/2006 19:49

no

SenoraPostrophe · 21/08/2006 19:50

no.

but then I would be smug in the knowledge that no school is worth 900 per month plus bills. teachers can change at any time.

morningpaper · 21/08/2006 19:51

I'd LOVE a spare flat though

I'd go there to escape the kids

lovely

rabbitrabbit · 21/08/2006 19:53

how lovely would it be.
i'd get coffee, croissants and the sunday papers and spend sunday there!

morningpaper · 21/08/2006 19:54

oh yes

I'd have a collection of music that I like

and white walls

mmm

oops · 21/08/2006 19:56

Message withdrawn

rabbitrabbit · 21/08/2006 19:56

and george clooney

oops · 21/08/2006 19:57

Message withdrawn

SecondhandRose · 21/08/2006 19:57

She didn't ask me to do it for her, I suggested it but then I thought I'd ask my friends on Mumsnet their opinions first.

OP posts:

SecondhandRose · 21/08/2006 19:58

oops, they rented it for a year to get the child into the school. They are back at the original address now.

OP posts:

oops · 21/08/2006 20:11

Message withdrawn

LIZS · 21/08/2006 20:16

Did your friend's child not get in ? Yes it may be unfair but they may not have allowed entry just on the catchment criteria anyway. Sounds like there are bigger issues between your friend and the other family here (are they really friends ?) and as you only have 2nd hand information there isn't much you can realistically do . If she has a beef about it let her tell the school and DSS.

SecondhandRose · 21/08/2006 22:19

No friends DC are not the same age. My friend is fed up with her because she is 'cheating' the system, telling her and getting away with it and she obviously thinks it is wrong.

OP posts:

SecondhandRose · 22/08/2006 17:04

bump

OP posts:

SecurMummy · 22/08/2006 17:10

I can understand your friends frustration, however, if she feels strongly that they are in the wrong then she should do the right thing! There are annonomous lines for benefit cheats and TBH I doubt the school would do anthing anyway - it is too late now to not give her a place and I should think they would not kick a child out who is settled etc.

Either way - they are her friends, it is her problem and she should be the one to deal with it!

mousiemousie · 22/08/2006 17:17

I think this issue is about your friend and she needs to make her own decisions. If the school find out the child will lose her place. And your friend may lose her friend over it. And then you may lose your friend. Like dominoes.

Personally I think it is morally wrong to claim benefits when you are not entitled to them and I would be prepared to report someone if I knew this to be the case. But not the friend of a friend on the basis of hearsay.

MadamePlatypus · 22/08/2006 17:30

Life is too short to get involved in this kind of thing. As others have said, I firmly believe what goes around comes around.

SecondhandRose · 22/08/2006 17:40

OK, as not one of you has said do it, then I won't. I spoke to a friend of mine today who is a teacher and he has just left a high perfoming school in Essex and the exact thing happened there. The school found out and the child was turned away on the first day of the new September term last year. Daddy had bought a 2nd house nearer to the school than his own, got the school place and then sold the house when they had the school place and he got rumbled.

OP posts:

pinkpyjamas · 22/08/2006 17:45

I think the school situation is unfair, and the benefits thing is outrageous. I agree with those who say it should be your friend who does any reporting to school / authorities though. It would be awful if you did, and then found your friend hadn't got her facts straight.

SecurMummy · 22/08/2006 18:20

Oh sorry, I think I misread, I thought the child was already at the school (so she had been there for a year already). If she has just been offered a place then yes they will turn her away if it comes out. (I believe this stands for quite some time into the first year too)

grumpyfrumpy · 22/08/2006 18:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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magicfarawaytree · 22/08/2006 19:40

this cheating behaviour is exactly the type of behaviour that keeps the system as it is. what really needs to happen is for enough pressure to be put on the govt to bring up the levels of all schools rather and creating the panic ( yes I nearly succumbed to it) to makes people concentrate on just getting their children into the school of their choice. because lets face it its only an issue for the ones that dont get in. lets face it if the parents that are resouceful enought to ensure that their kids get into the school of their choice by dubious methods put the the same energy into pushing the government and the local education authority and poor performing schools then imagine the difference it would make. but the sad reality is that it is more often a case of phew i'm alright jack.

Kazzaa · 23/08/2006 21:39

This is a very tricky subject. I myself am in a very similar situation. My ex-husband wants to sell the family house to get his share, meaning me and my two sons (aged 6 and 8) need to downsize. I do have two years before I have to put in my forms for secondary, and we also live in an area where the children take 11+ for Grammar School places. The problem I have is do I push myself to the limit to buy a house in the "right" catchment area for school, or buy a house I can comfortably afford as a single parent but with a Secondary School that has a terrible repuation and hope I can get into the schools I want. It's almost a choice of giving them a decent education or a decent life for now . You also have to remember that kids can fall into the wrong crowd wherever they go, and even if the school is excellent, they may not always apply themselves to the best of their ability anyway. Also, you can still have a rubbish teacher in a brilliant school. The whole system is a sham imo, bring back the days when everyone went to their catchment school I say .

AviG · 27/09/2006 14:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

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