John Crispin, a teacher at Bishop Reindorp CofE School in Guildford, Surrey, rails against the problems caused by schools' competing for business.

School choice is probably beset by just about every worst instinct that hides under our skins, comprising jealousy, snobbery, and all manner of beggar thy neighbour - the lot.

I know because I've been there, and I'm guilty. The fact is our kids do not get two bites at the cherry, which is what seems to justify all this.

I had to appeal to get my younger daughter into primary school 500 yards away. This was the school her elder sister had just left, was on the same side of the road as our house, and yet she was refused a place.

I think this was due to the governors, empowered under their newly found grant-maintained status, drawing an arbitrary "catchment" area line, literally down the border of my house.

Cynical perhaps, but I maintain they sought to redefine this area in order to exclude the majority of council estate kids just on the other side of it.

No difference

My daughter's friend was "unlucky" and ended up going to the school we rejected, just across the road.

Now they are both high-flying Year 9 pupils at the same secondary school, both of similar ability and in top sets.

So my appeal and anxiety were completely unfounded, but having embarked on it, I was determined the outcome go my way. And so it is with many in the same position.

Some parents who are disappointed in admission disputes will never truly be satisfied. Because they cannot get their way, the school they have to use will always be blamed for the slightest setbacks.

It will rub off on their kids, who will also think they have got a bum deal. They will carp, criticise and play down any success of the school.

A whole dismal morale sets in. This is not the right way to try to improve things, if that is what is needed.

Selling themselves

Schools are compelled to have a marketing strategy. Out of the window go the real educational values, subordinated to endless initiatives, buzzwords and gimmicks of style over substance.

But you cannot talk up a school once it is out of favour.

I am annoyed by all we hear about "super heads" turning round "failing" schools. It is complete nonsense and the examples of failure are now legendary.

A new boss might be able to galvanise and revitalise a demoralised staff to some extent, for a short time. But without control over the raw material, the outcome is at best uncertain and just a way of slowing down the inevitable.

I constantly hear stories of schools far and wide struggling for numbers due to this sort of blight.

Truly comprehensive

There are exceptions. I had the luck to teach in a comprehensive down in Sussex for quite a while - the Weald School, Billingshurst.

At that time, about three years ago, I was considering resuming my full-time teaching career after 15 years running a small business (the only way I could find to have a life and afford a family.)

This school was exceptional for one thing: It was the only school within about a 15-mile radius. The catchment was enormous and extremely varied and the kids' backgrounds ranged from wealthy professional to rural indigenous, plus every other group in the mix.

The school was a bit scruffy-looking, but was in a gorgeous rural setting. I really used to look forward to going down there.

The atmosphere crackled. Inevitably there were some naughty kids but nothing serious. I would happily have finished my career there, given the chance.

Why was this? Because, I believe, it was a model comprehensive in the true sense of the word as conceived all those years ago under the 1965 Act.

This true spread of ability and background yielded excellent results to boot.

School run mentality

One rule which predominates in choice of school seems to be that if you have to get in your car to get there it must be OK.

Maybe the sight of local schoolkids homeward bound with a scruffy uniform detracts from the image. Any attempt the school makes to sell itself to the locals is that much harder.

Recently, I taught in the most favoured Guildford comprehensive on the north east side of town. It enjoys a spread of ability much like the Weald School and is jogging along soundly in the comfort zone.

Funding is no problem - it pours in, proportionate to the schools' huge size and "beacon" status.

It functions a bit like a factory. That seems to suit the parents, because they don't quail with embarrassment when asked where their kids go to school.

Choice by income level

Estate agents capitalise on the situation by advertising houses and stating simply that the property falls within the school's "catchment".

This hardens the "choice" issue still further, raising the income level of the surrounding area and generating a highbrow locality with kids to match.

So it goes on. I cannot see how we can get out of this bind. It has established itself for sufficiently long now to become "a right", a leftover master stroke of Thatcherite divide and rule politics, creating two tiers in the publicly-funded education sector.

The public has been sold the idea that Ofsted inspections provide a balance. How has that turned out? A one-off hired hit squad which goes in and sorts out all those lazy bloody teachers...

Funny that: I don't see queues of people trying to get into the job that everyone reckons is so easy.

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In my view provides space for those involved in education to reflect on how it is going from their perspective. The views expressed here are personal.

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