Huge rise in protests at school admissions

Protests about school admissions rules have soared in the last two years, figures revealed today.

The figures were a stark reminder of the desperate scramble for places at the most popular primaries and secondaries, many of which are Church schools. Church of England and Catholic schools with more applications than places invariably require parents to prove they are regular churchgoers.

Stories abound of parents suddenly rediscovering their faith when their children reach school age. But Philip Hunter, the Chief Schools Adjudicator, said in his latest-annual report that many parents were confused by the requirements of Church schools.

It was not good enough that some of these rules had been operating "unchallenged" for years, he said.

"It is common for these criteria to refer to 'contribution to the work of the Church of...' or 'contribution to the parishes of...' In practice what most of them mean is that preference will be given to children of parents who can supply a letter of support from the local vicar or parish priest but there is no indication of what is expected to be contained in the letters."

Dr Hunter called on Church authorities to publish clear admissions rules for the schools. A Church of England spokesman agreed this was now required.

Dr Hunter's team handles the most intractable complaints that local "admissions forums" fail to resolve. He said the last 12 months had been "busier than ever".

The adjudicator's caseload jumped from 78 to 233 between 2002 and 2003 after the introduction of the Government's revised admissions code of practice.

Although the increase in complaints was smaller this year, Dr Hunter said cases were becoming increasingly complex.

Even though the code of practice introduced under the 2002 Education Act was meant to simplify matters, parents still face a bewildering number of rules.

First preference should go to children in local authority care. Dr Hunter said 43 cases in the last year concerned either failure of schools to include this in their oversubscription criteria, or to act upon it. He ordered all the schools, many of which were Church-run, to change their rules.

The next most common criteria favour children with older siblings at the school and those who live within its catchment area.

Dr Hunter upheld 15 complaints where schools tried to give preference to brothers or sisters of pupils who had left.

He found in favour of objectors in most of the 26 cases where schools gave preference to children of members of staff.

Admitting the delicacy of his task, Dr Hunter said many rulings were "finely balanced".