35 London state schools warned over admissions

The full extent of how London's state schools are flouting admissions rules emerged today.

Some 35 schools in the borough of Barnet have been warned about breaching the code, prompting claims that thousands of children in the capital may have been put at a disadvantage when applying for places.

The Evening Standard revealed this week that at least four state schools in London were among those accused of demanding "payments" from parents.

They include Hasmonean - a Jewish primary in Barnet which has admitted asking parents for £50 cheques. But it emerged today that as many as 34 other schools in the borough may also be flouting the rules.

The allegations - first made by Schools Secretary Ed Balls - prompted a furious response from the council, and from local education leaders who accused Mr Balls of creating the row as a "smokescreen" to cover up the fact thousands of children were denied places at their preferred secondary schools this year.

Tory-controlled Barnet Council leader Mike Freer accused Mr Balls of picking on the four Jewish primary schools in the borough that charged parents for Jewish Studies, which are not state-funded, and for the extra security measures that all Jewish schools need to maintain in case of anti-Semitic and terrorist attacks.

Mr Freer said: "I think the way the Secretary of State has handled this has been appalling. Without allowing us to tell him the facts, he has been running off to the [broadcast] studios before we could even start talking to the schools." Hasmonean Primary said this charge had "historically but incorrectly" been described on the school's entry form as an admission fee. The school said: "The cheque is not usually banked and is returned if a child is not successful in gaining a place and is offset from the first term's voluntary contribution to the Jewish Studies."

But Mr Balls hit back today, saying the Government was right to crack down on breaches of the new national admissions code. He told the Evening Standard: "It is absolutely fine for schools to ask for voluntary contributions for extra activities or for security. But these payments must be voluntary and they must come after the admissions process is finished."

Mr Freer said Barnet had already been discussing with the schools concerned the need to change their admissions criteria in light of the new code which came into force this year. "Before we had even been allowed to explain what we were doing, we were being pilloried," he said. "It was a mistake and we are correcting it. There's no evidence anyone was refused a place if they didn't send in a cheque."

Mike Griffiths, branch secretary for the Association of School and College Leaders in the area, branded Mr Balls's remarks "a disgrace". He suggested the minister was creating a "smokescreen" to distract from admissions figures showing one in three families in London were denied places at their preferred schools.