School's legal fight over 'refusing places to poor'

A LEADING state school goes to court today in a legal fight over its admissions policy on children from poor homes.

Popular Drayton Manor High School in Hanwell has been praised by the Government and attracts many more applications than it has places.

But thousands of parents' plans have been thrown into chaos after Ealing council claimed the school discriminated against working-class children through its admissions policy.

The schools adjudicator agreed with Ealing's complaint and ordered Drayton Manor to change its rules so more local children can attend. In a rare legal challenge, the school is taking the matter to judicial review at the High Court today.

The case marks an important test for the Government's new admissions rules, which encourage councils to report schools with unfair selection criteria to the adjudicator. The row has forced Ealing to delay its admissions process for three weeks while the legal challenge is heard. The deadline for applications for secondary school places across the rest of London was last Friday.

Paper forms from parents in Ealing will be accepted until 12 November but the online applications scheme has closed. The Government's new admissions code was introduced last year to stop middle-class parents dominating the best state secondaries.

In its objection, Ealing said Drayton Manor fuelled "social segregation" by refusing places to children from deprived estates less than a mile away. The school was accused of turning away families who live in less affluent areas on the grounds that they had other schools closer to their homes.

Schools adjudicator Andrew Baxter ruled that Drayton Manor's policy "indirectly discriminated" against children from poorer families who could not afford to move into the catchment area.

The school is challenging his interpretation of the admissions code.