Schools should not interview for any other purpose - certainly not to select the ablest pupils

Department for education

The parent who made the complaint said her son was turned down on the issue of outside interests, although she believed he had shown proof of that.

The ombudsman, Patricia Thomas, said the interview system was fundamentally flawed and did not provide an objective assessment of whether a candidate had met the criteria.

Ms Thomas had angered the school by saying in her report that although Coopers' Company and Coburn School stressed its Christian ethos, it was not strictly a church school.

This was corrected by the department for education, which said Coopers' was a designated faith school and could therefore conduct interviews.

A spokeswoman for the department said: "The school is a designated Christian faith school, and as such they are able to interview in order to assess religious commitment of applicants.

"Schools should not interview for any other purpose - certainly not to select the ablest pupils."

The school - which was top in England for GCSEs last year - says it will continue to interview pupils but will redraft its policy on extra-curricular activities to make it more transparent.

Steve Hogan, the clerk to the school's governors, said: "We will go along with what they said and we will amend our policy.

"We don't accept their interpretation but we will amend it."