Family reveals home-hopping tactics to win school places
THE chairman of governors at one of the country’s most prestigious state primaries has told how he and his family moved twice into rented accommodation while keeping their original home to take advantage of the school admissions system.
On each occasion, John Burton, who chairs the governing body at St Peter’s Eaton Square, a Church of England primary in Belgravia, London, ensured the family moved within a short distance of the chosen schools to help their applications.
One of his two daughters is now at a high-performing girls’ secondary school; the other will move there from St Peter’s this September.
The family have now moved back to their original home.
Burton, 44, a company lawyer, and his wife Elaine broke no rules, but critics believe their tactics are a clear example of how well-off, middle-class parents can exploit the system.
Burton said: “To criticise someone for trying their best to keep their children in the state sector is a strange criticism.”
He added: “The tragedy of St Peter’s is that there are a lot of children who just go straight to the private sector because the parents think it is too difficult or impossible to get them into a decent state school.
“These parents pay money and everyone thinks that’s fine, yet people think it’s odd we’d want to move to stay in the state sector.”
St Peter’s, which is close to Westminster, is a favourite with MPs. Those whose children have attended include Denis MacShane, the former Foreign Office minister, and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, who moved his son and daughter from St Peter’s to a private prep school.
In 2006, the Burtons, from Kennington, south London, were deciding on their older daughter’s secondary education and wanted to remain with church-run state schools.
Because there were no suitable ones close to their house, they moved four miles to rented accommodation a few yards from Lady Margaret school in west London, ranked 51st in the Sunday Times Parent Power league table.
Six months later, when the admissions system at the school had been changed so applicants no longer gained any advantage from living nearby, the family moved another four miles, this time close to the highly rated St Marylebone Church of England girls’ high school in central London.
“Who is going to leave to luck their child’s education?” said Burton. The home is thought to have cost them nearly £1,000 a week in rent — far higher than the cost of private school fees.
St Marylebone uses distance from its gates as a tie breaker, although the Burtons’ regular church attendance gave them a greater advantage.
“We have a strong commitment to the church. Without that, the move may have been irrelevant,” said Burton.
Unlike some parents who have broken admission rules by renting accommodation near a favoured school but only pretended to live there full-time, the Burtons undertook a full move on each occasion.
The family spent nearly two years in Marylebone. Earlier this year, just after their second successful application, the Burtons moved back to their original home in Kennington.
“We were going to stay, but with the credit crunch, job security, etc, it was just so expensive to live round there, which is a shame because we liked the area,” said Burton.
The strategies employed by those such as the Burtons have exposed loopholes in the admissions codes introduced by Ed Balls, the schools secretary, to curb savvy parents. A spokesman for his department confirmed: “This governor is acting within the code.”
Fiona Millar, vice-chairwoman of the campaign group Comprehensive Future, said: “I don’t think you can blame the parents. They will obviously try to get into the school that they think is best for their child.
“The system should not allow that to happen. The government needs to do more to ensure some parents can’t exploit it at the expense of other parents who are local.”
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