Students at some of Perth’s top public schools have had their enrolments cancelled after it was revealed their parents falsely claimed they lived in the same catchment zone as the school.
WAtoday obtained documents showing at least 10 families have had their children’s enrolments cancelled or questioned due to catchment fraud at nine of Perth’s most sought-after public high schools over the past five years.
Applecross Senior High School, which has a local intake area stretching west to Alfred Cove and Myaree, east to Mount Pleasant, and south to Booragoon, dealt with the most catchment fraud cases, having handled three over five years.
It shares optional intake areas with Melville Senior High School, which handled one case of catchment fraud, and Rossmoyne Senior High School, which dealt with two cases.
Mount Lawley Senior High School – which has a local intake area encompassing Perth, Menora, Coolbinia, North Perth, Highgate, Maylands and parts of Inglewood – also dealt with two cases of catchment fraud in 2021. In each case, the school stated it could not cope with any additional students.
“Mount Lawley Senior High School is under considerable enrolment pressure in Year 9,” the school wrote to one parent.
“Based on the evidence we have been provided ... [redacted] is eligible to enrol at Belmont City College.”
Communications from Rossmoyne Senior High School showed staff had visited the listed property of an enrolled student three times in 2018.
“They have never been present and the owner cannot confirm that they reside there. The [redacted] can confirm that the family is paying rent,” an email exchange states.
“Photos taken at two different inspections are exactly the same ... the property doesn’t look like it has been lived in.”
The school then spoke to the parent, but said their explanations were “inconsistent”, before asking for a statutory declaration to be witnessed stating their address.
In response, an employee of the South Metropolitan Regional Education Office replied: “Regardless of the Stat Dec ... you then need to be satisfied that it is the truth. From what you have told me I would have trouble believing their usual place of residence is in the intake area.”
Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell there was a link between a demand for housing, higher prices, and top public schools.
“The public school catchment zone in which your home fits into dictates where your child can go to school. There is a priority that we put onto our child’s education because we all naturally want to give the best opportunities for our children,” she said
“I’ve had heard anecdotal stories that people have rented in a particular school catchment zone just to enable their child to gain access to what they deemed as a good-performing school.”
Powell said research showed that, in some instances, neighbouring school catchments zones were moving in complete opposite directions – prices in one would grow while the other dropped off.
“This would suggest schools have an influence over house prices, noting our housing market is very complex, and there are many factors that influence price movements,” she said.
“We have also looked at the amount of school zones that were outperforming the suburb where the school is located. Some of them were up to 10 per cent above the respective suburb in terms of its price growth.”
On top of the influence on price, Powell said many families were also choosing to stay put once they found a suitable school for their child.
“I would say, from my own personal experience, you stay locked down if you’re in that right school catchment zone,” she said.
Living in the right catchment zone can be the difference between living on one side of the road or the other. Credit: iStock
“It might be challenging for some to locate a rental in a particular school catchment zone, particularly if it’s a school catchment zone that traditionally doesn’t have many rentals anyway, especially with a vacancy rate of just 0.4 per cent.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed that at the last census in 2021, all nine suburbs where Perth’s top public high schools were located had a median rental price higher than the state median.
Five of the suburbs had a lower number of rentals available than the state median, with Carine particularly low at just 9.5 per cent of homes being rented.
Education policy senior lecturer Glenn Savage said parents understood not all schools were equal due to a range of factors including funding and retention of teachers which, in turn, impacted results.
He said this meant parents who had the financial means would either buy or rent in a cheaper suburb and save to send their children to private school, or would save for a house in a more expensive area in the catchment area they wanted.
But some parents could not afford either option.
“Being in a position of ‘no choice’ could drive some parents to work the system, instead of compete with parents who have the financial means,” Savage said.
“It is not a new phenomenon, but the access to information on websites like My School has led to a more competitive education market.”
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