School wins fight to choose its own admission policy

A LEADING state school today won its landmark legal fight with an education watchdog at the High Court.

The popular Drayton Manor High School in Hanwell was accused of fuelling "social segregation" and ordered to change its admissions policy to give more places to local children from poor backgrounds.

But Judge Stewart severely criticised the school adjudicator for making "fundamental" errors and quashed the watchdog's decision.

The ruling marks a significant blow for the Government's new admissions rules, which were introduced to stop middle-class parents dominating the best secondaries.

Ealing council claimed that Drayton Manor unfairly refused places to disadvantaged children from nearby estates. School adjudicator Andrew Baxter agreed and ordered Drayton Manor to change its rules with just days to go before the deadline for parents to apply for places. But the school took its fight against the watchdog to judicial review - and was vindicated today.

Judge Stewart said Mr Baxter had failed to take into account the impact of his ruling on other children in the borough. The school argued that if it had changed its admission rules as instructed, children living in the east would face long journeys to other schools and be denied a good choice of secondaries. The judge said the adjudicator had failed to address this issue: "In my judgment this is a fundamental error," he said.

The school has been praised for its educational excellence and attracted nearly 1,600 applications for just 240 places last year.

Outside Court 16 today, headmaster Sir Pritpal Singh condemned the waste of money involved in bringing the case. He said: "I'm very glad that the judge has ruled in our favour. We are incredibly unhappy that the school's integrity has been questioned in this way."

Ealing council was forced to delay the admissions process for three weeks while the court case was heard and about 3,500 families were affected. Ministers last year introduced a new statutory admissions code, under which councils are encouraged to report schools they believe are failing to promote fair admissions.