Reply to: Do you think this is a waste of time & tax payers money, why not simply just reject

[minestrone]

We live in the catchment area for the 2 best state schools in Scotland and it is desperation for some people to get their kids in there. My mate who is a protestant dragged his 3 kids down to a chapel to get them bapstised. There is a Priest a few miles away and if you give him 100 quid to dip their heads in water your kids move from underperforming school to top school. Simples.

[gingerjedi]

Nu-Liebore's answer is to have a lucky dip for entry. If you have 4 kids you could quite easily have them attending 4 different schools. What a crock.

The admissions process gives priority to children with a sibling already at the school so that shouldn't happen.

[BrilloPad]

It's just a shame there's so many crap schools. That's the real problem.

Bring back the cane. That will at least stop the minority stopping the majority from learning.

[expat]

It's just a shame there's so many crap schools. That's the real problem.

WHS. Is that not obvious? If your school isn't crap you won't do tricks to get your kids into one that isn't.

Fix the schools and you fix the problem.

[RichardCranium]

It's just a shame there's so many crap schools. That's the real problem.

[Alf W]

Funnily enough we know of a family that used the old 'we split up and I went to live back at my parents with the kid at the time of application but we're all back together now' trick. I thought it was quite ingenious at the time. Seems like it wasn't that original after all.

[Fred Bloggs]

Nu-Liebore's answer is to have a lucky dip for entry. If you have 4 kids you could quite easily have them attending 4 different schools. What a crock.

[Bumfluff]

If she is so innocent why didnt she explain the irregularities or turn up at the meetings. Anyway I know alot about this case for reasons I wont go into but IMO she was a b*ll sh*tter, knew what she had lied etc. Alright the council made an example of her but what she did is a very big problem in the Harrow council area, lots of families living close to each other using uncles and aunts addresses for school apps.

[gingerjedi]

My wife tells me that people often rent a property within a catchment area to get a place in a desirable school then move back when the dust settles.

Difficult to prove that it's a deliberate act just to get the place.

I’ve also heard that the local Catholic primary that I went to now has near 70% Polish kids so indigenous parents are taking their kids out so they can be educated in more ‘English’ environment, the school has it’s own admissions policy where religion is the number one factor on deciding who gets a place which is fair enough I suppose.

[Menelaus]

The Fraud Act is a bit of a catch-all; it's so badly or loosely written that you can be caught on it for a mistake rather than a deliberate act.

[xoggoth]

Agree. Or maybe there were so many doing it they thought somebody had to be "made an example of"

[NotAllThere]

It's a small minority of parents who won't knuckle down and do what they're told, that's causing the problem. Not the hugely smegged up admission system.

[MrMark]

The whole schools admission system is a pile of tulip. The appeal system is laughable as well. What happened to you going to your local school (or pay to go private)?

My parents live in Wales and amongst the criteria for the village school is whether your parents WORK in Wales or not. The family who live next door to the school have to send their 7 year old kid 10 miles to school because they both work over the border in England.

Discrimination against migrant workers!

[Alf W]

The whole schools admission system is a pile of sh1t. The appeal system is laughable as well. What happened to you going to your local school (or pay to go private)?

My parents live in Wales and amongst the criteria for the village school is whether your parents WORK in Wales or not. The family who live next door to the school have to send their 7 year old kid 10 miles to school because they both work over the border in England.

[gingerjedi]

My wife works on a council school admissions department, this sort of thing happens all the time.

These league tables have screwed the system up, there's one failing school in the area that only had 70 first choice applicants when they have space for 1,000+. There's little hope for that school or any of its pupils as the current system perpetuates a downward spiral.