Head offered £5,000 bribe for school place

A headteacher was offered a £5,000-a-year bribe by parents desperate to secure a place for their child at her high-flying primary school.

Madeline Brading is one of a growing number of heads who say more and more parents are going to extreme lengths to make absolutely sure their children get the best education.

Her school, Our Lady of Victories Roman Catholic primary in Kensington, tops the borough's performance league tables for tests and improvements.

A new survey has revealed Ms Brading and the heads of half the top performing schools in England were offered bribes or other inducements and had even been threatened by parents on some occasions.

Ms Brading said: "Over the years we've been offered inducements, but it's getting bigger."

Another headteacher, in Bromley, was offered £3,000 to ignore the fact that an address was outside the catchment area.

The borough has six children chasing one place and, according to Dr Beverley Feather of Clare House primary school, this has resulted in desperation among parents. "They will offer their skill and expertise. For instance, they say they could help with information and communication technology if their child got in," she said. "One time I was offered money: 'Would £3,000 help the decisionmaking process?' Of course it wouldn't. It is solely based on distance from the home."

Teaching unions today condemned parents who tried to unduly influence teachers. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "The situation of teachers being offered bribes is absolutely scandalous and any self-respecting teacher is going to reject that approach."

Mr Hart said the admissions system in the capital needed to be reformed to avoid anxious parents resorting to bribery to get their children into good schools. "We need to get back to the idea that parents in principle-send their children to the local school in their catchment area," he said.

"London is a unique situation in that you find competition for places you don't get elsewhere in the country. We have to find a way to enable schools both to serve the most deprived communities and attract parents.

"If we allow parents simply to bus children across London we will end up with a situation with the good schools getting better and the bad ones getting worse."

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, blamed school league tables for parent's desperation.

He claimed many were misreading the tables, which could be affected year to year by, among other things, the number of special needs pupils in a school. "It is very depressing that league tables have pushed parents to behave in such an unacceptable manner," said Mr Bangs.

"Parents are battling to get their children into schools that are higher up the league tables without realising that league tables tell you very little about a school.

"The inevitable result is that parents will do anything to get their children into schools higher up the league tables without understanding that these schools are not necessarily the best."

The research, for the BBC Six O'Clock news, also found that 70 per cent of headteachers questioned said parents lied in applications. One family in Hampshire listed an empty field as their home.