Parents lie about religion for schools

London parents are so desperate to get their children into the best schools that they will even lie about their religion, it has emerged.

Parents spoke about their "convenient conversions" today as thousands in the capital waited to hear whether they had succeeded in getting their children into popular schools.

Church schools are popular because they dominate the exam league tables. They do so, many claim, because they have control over their own admissions and can, effectively, choose their pupils.

More than three out of 10 London parents fail to find a place in their first-choice school, twice as many as in the rest of the country.

So high are the stakes that schools are now practised in spotting parents who move address to place themselves within a school's catchment area - only to move out again when their child's place is secured.

Many parents declined to talk to the Evening Standard for fear of jeopardising their children's chances.

But Jim Kelly, currently trying to get his child into a Roman Catholic primary school in Southwark, said the allocation of places at the topperforming school rested, in part, "on the evidence of one priest who is in his eighties and another who is three-quarters blind".

Describing himself as a "lapsed Catholic", he explained how he had his four-year-old son baptised to please his parents and how he started attending Mass at his local parish church 18 months ago.

He added: "I suspect a lot of people lapse again once they have their son in school, and I imagine I very probably will. I don't believe a word of it."

Mr Kelly's comments were backed by evangelical charity the Christian Institute. Spokesman Colin Hart said: "I know there are cases where this happens. But I also respect parents who do this for their children, because they want them to have a Christian education even if they have doubts about their own faith."

One of south London's most successful Church of England comprehensives outlined the steps it is taking to prevent parents "conning" their way into a school place.

Richard Ford, head of Archbishop Tenison CofE School in Croydon, said it required proof of two years' Church attendance and continuing involvement in Church activities.

Mr Ford said: "I am pretty confident we can identify those who are not."

But, he acknowledged, parents did try, adding: "It is not unknown for parents to claim that they are members of a congregation and then for the ministers to say they have never heard of them."

A spokesman for the CofE's board of education said he believed the story about parents lying to gain school places was "an urban myth". He pointed to a survey last year that asked what was most valued by members of their congregations. "Attendance at church school came bottom of that list," he said.

The Catholic Media Office was equally dismissive, with a spokesman saying: "If you want a child to go to a Roman Catholic school, you will be required to prove that the child has been baptised and that you attend Mass."

But Mr Kelly dismissed both, saying: "If I was trying to pull the wool over a priest's eyes about why I was attending his congregation... the last thing that I would do would be to say so."