School place rules still in flux

By Gary Eason BBC News education correspondent

The focus of attention, with the Schools Adjudicator's report on cheating over admissions, has been on parents trying to fiddle the system. But what about schools?

The admissions rules have been tightened repeatedly by the government to stop what the adjudicator, Ian Craig, calls "obviously unacceptable practice" by some schools.

But all is still not well.

In his annual report, Dr Craig says: "Most of the non-compliance now brought to the attention of adjudicators relates much more to technical mistakes and interpretation within a local context than to blatant disregard for guidance and regulations."

It does seem remarkable that even at this late stage he has found himself having to recommend to the government that - "to avoid continued confusion and mixed practice" - definitions are still required for key terms such as "parents", "siblings", "distance" and "home address".

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said he would ask officials to look again at the definitions.

'The system stinks'

And some practice hardly seems to come under the heading of a technical mistake.

One parent spoken to by the BBC News website - not someone who would have contemplated cheating - recounted this experience, which he found "bizarre".

James (not his real name) in London said: "We applied for five schools, and our daughter was offered a place at our fifth choice - a school that wasn't right for her needs and wasn't even within our borough.

"We then lodged an appeal to try to secure a place at our first choice school.

"The tribunal acknowledged that we had a strong case and that it had been well put, but we were turned down.

"Nevertheless, the school itself intimated that if we contacted the head teacher directly, we might have a chance.

"That's exactly what we did. And straight away we were told that yes, our daughter could go to that school - but we shouldn't tell anyone beforehand and she would have to start two weeks after the beginning of term.

"It appears that head teachers have a few places to hand out to children who they really want in the school - and whose parents are sufficiently persistent and articulate to argue the case.

"Are we pleased that our daughter eventually got in to what is undoubtedly a good school? Of course. But the system stinks."

'Unacceptable'

It seems schools are able to do this by logging the children under the heading of "late joining pupils".

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said statistics on the numbers of such children were not collected.

He said the case was "clearly unacceptable".

"Admissions must be clear, fair and transparent in line with the mandatory school admissions code.

"This is a serious allegation - and the independent Schools Adjudicator has the power to investigate such allegations to stamp out unfair and covert selection practices."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version