Cheating parents send older siblings to take 11+
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:45 am
How on earth has it come to this? From today's Times:
Parents are fraudulently securing grammar school places by getting older children to sit the 11-plus exam on behalf of siblings, head teachers say.
Some schools have had to introduce compulsory photo identification for children sitting the tests.
Candidates arriving for the 11-plus often appear much older than ten, according to a recently retired head of a grammar school in Kent. Andy Williamson, the former head of Wilmington Grammar School for Boys in Dartford, recalled the case of a pupil who gained a place at his school but then struggled academically.
Suspecting that the boy was “highly unlikely” to have passed the entrance test, he found the original exam paper, compared the pupil’s handwriting to his schoolwork and saw that the answers had been written by different people.
“By then he was a pupil at my school, struggling and unable to keep up with his classmates,” he said. “I raised it with Kent county council but they decided to take no further action.” He added: “If you had a family from outside the area coming to take the exam, without verified photo ID, it could well be a sibling sitting the exam for another.”
A tutor who runs an 11-plus preparation service said: “I believe it was common in Slough for siblings or cousins to take the test on behalf of a weaker candidate in their family, hence they brought in a photo ID system.”
Children in grammar school areas sit 11-plus tests this autumn. There are 163 of the schools in Britain, and some candidates take the exams miles away from their home towns. If the applications are successful, families move house or arrange for their child to commute. A recent baby boom filtering through to secondary schools is tightening the competition for places.
Theresa May has pledged £50 million to help grammar schools to expand, although by law no new ones can open. Oversubscribed grammars have to allow children from any part of the country to sit their entrance exams in case places are available after local children have been accommodated.
Edward Wesson, head of The Skinners’ School, in Tunbridge Wells, said that the system was “at risk of imposters” and “certainly open to abuse”, adding: “In September we hosted 170 out-of-county candidates who almost exclusively came from southeast London.” He backed calls for tighter controls against cheating and pupils being asked to bring proof of identity.
Jim Skinner, chief executive of the Grammar School Heads’ Association, said: “In some areas . . . what quite a lot are now doing is asking for a photo to be attached to the form which is countersigned or verified by the primary school. It overcomes the problem of some children not having passports.
“There are concerns in a very small number of cases . . . and something we want to nip in the bud.”
Mr Skinner said that many grammars tried to give priority to at least some children from disadvantaged back- grounds and suggested that requiring photographic evidence could discourage that, by creating an extra burden for disadvantaged families.
The Slough consortium of grammar schools says on its website: “Registrations will not be complete unless the photograph of your child is uploaded.”
A spokesman for Kent county council said: “We must consider the impact of any actions on children sitting the test . . . We believe that it would be disproportionate to require children to present some form of ID. Those from poorer families may not have passports or other photo ID and even if these were available, they last for several years and may not present as a likeness to the child and may also look like older siblings. Handwriting is unique . . . a place would be withdrawn if it was felt it had been secured fraudulently.”
Parents are fraudulently securing grammar school places by getting older children to sit the 11-plus exam on behalf of siblings, head teachers say.
Some schools have had to introduce compulsory photo identification for children sitting the tests.
Candidates arriving for the 11-plus often appear much older than ten, according to a recently retired head of a grammar school in Kent. Andy Williamson, the former head of Wilmington Grammar School for Boys in Dartford, recalled the case of a pupil who gained a place at his school but then struggled academically.
Suspecting that the boy was “highly unlikely” to have passed the entrance test, he found the original exam paper, compared the pupil’s handwriting to his schoolwork and saw that the answers had been written by different people.
“By then he was a pupil at my school, struggling and unable to keep up with his classmates,” he said. “I raised it with Kent county council but they decided to take no further action.” He added: “If you had a family from outside the area coming to take the exam, without verified photo ID, it could well be a sibling sitting the exam for another.”
A tutor who runs an 11-plus preparation service said: “I believe it was common in Slough for siblings or cousins to take the test on behalf of a weaker candidate in their family, hence they brought in a photo ID system.”
Children in grammar school areas sit 11-plus tests this autumn. There are 163 of the schools in Britain, and some candidates take the exams miles away from their home towns. If the applications are successful, families move house or arrange for their child to commute. A recent baby boom filtering through to secondary schools is tightening the competition for places.
Theresa May has pledged £50 million to help grammar schools to expand, although by law no new ones can open. Oversubscribed grammars have to allow children from any part of the country to sit their entrance exams in case places are available after local children have been accommodated.
Edward Wesson, head of The Skinners’ School, in Tunbridge Wells, said that the system was “at risk of imposters” and “certainly open to abuse”, adding: “In September we hosted 170 out-of-county candidates who almost exclusively came from southeast London.” He backed calls for tighter controls against cheating and pupils being asked to bring proof of identity.
Jim Skinner, chief executive of the Grammar School Heads’ Association, said: “In some areas . . . what quite a lot are now doing is asking for a photo to be attached to the form which is countersigned or verified by the primary school. It overcomes the problem of some children not having passports.
“There are concerns in a very small number of cases . . . and something we want to nip in the bud.”
Mr Skinner said that many grammars tried to give priority to at least some children from disadvantaged back- grounds and suggested that requiring photographic evidence could discourage that, by creating an extra burden for disadvantaged families.
The Slough consortium of grammar schools says on its website: “Registrations will not be complete unless the photograph of your child is uploaded.”
A spokesman for Kent county council said: “We must consider the impact of any actions on children sitting the test . . . We believe that it would be disproportionate to require children to present some form of ID. Those from poorer families may not have passports or other photo ID and even if these were available, they last for several years and may not present as a likeness to the child and may also look like older siblings. Handwriting is unique . . . a place would be withdrawn if it was felt it had been secured fraudulently.”