Deputy head lied to get daughter into school

A deputy headmistress has been caught trying to use a false address to get her daughter into a popular state school.

Margaret Gillespie, deputy head of Holy Cross Primary School in Fulham, claimed she lived in the caretaker's flat in her school, which is near the successful and heavily oversubscribed Lady Margaret School in Parson's Green.

But, Mrs Gillespie actually lives more than six miles away in Brentford. It is closest to Brentford School for Girls, where results are not as good.

The case illustrates the frantic struggle for places at good schools in London. It also highlights the temptation facing some teachers who try to use inside knowledge to jump the queue.

Last year, an Evening Standard inquiry found that two thirds of authorities in London were forced to take action against parents who tried to cheat the admissions system.

They dealt with dozens of cases of parents giving false information and this was thought to be just the tip of the iceberg as schools are not required to report every suspicious application.

Lady Margaret School, headed by Joan Olivier was among those affected by the recent fiasco that engulfed the new London-wide admissions system in its first year.

Computer problems meant that councils could not share information as intended by the complex new system, with the result that thousands of children were left without an offer of a school place. Many believed the new system, which was intended to leave fewer parents without offers while others sat on more than one, would enhance their chances of getting a place at a popular school.

Mrs Olivier said last month that she had parents in tears after discovering their children had failed to get places at her school.

Competition is so fierce for space in London's leading state schools that tens of thousands of pounds are added onto the value of houses in the right catchment areas.

Lady Margaret got 660 applications for 90 places last year. Like many others of its type, the Church of England school takes girls of mixed ability and favours those who are practising Anglicans and live nearby.

Its average A-Level score is ABB, putting Lady Margaret in the same class as many private schools. In contrast, the average at Brentford School for Girls is around the CCD level.

Mrs Gillespie was caught by investigators used by Lady Margaret to check applications for any signs of cheating. She refused to comment but a spokesman for the governors of Holy Cross Primary said they took her conduct "extremely seriously".

However, a school source said she would be allowed to keep her job and would be formally warned rather than dismissed.