Schools ordered to take more children

Popular state schools will have to take on extra pupils in response to demand from parents, under new rules published today.

The admissions watchdog will be ordered to approve plans for successful schools to expand, even if less popular comprehensives nearby have spare places.

However, Children's Secretary Ed Balls has abandoned proposals which would have seen parents forced to sign up to the ethos of their preferred school to win a place.

The rules are contained in a new schools admissions code which will come into force in February next year for children starting in 2010. The document follows a row over claims that half of schools were flouting the existing rules, with some demanding unlawful payments from parents.

Families in London face a tough task, with one in three children failing to get into their first choice secondary school this year.

Mr Balls said the new code aimed to make school choice fairer.

"The purpose of the admissions code is simple: to ensure that parents are choosing schools and not the other way round," he said. "Our vision of fair access to 21st century schools is for all schools to have fair and lawful admission arrangements and policies.

"To realise this goal we need to be responsive to the needs of parents, families and their communities."

The rules include:

●The expectation that plans for popular schools to expand - apart from selective grammars - will be approved by education authorities. This applies even if other nearby schools have spare places.

●A new duty on schools and councils to engage with parents and the community when setting admissions policies.

●Priority for places at state boarding schools will go to children of Armed Forces personnel.

●A clear ban on schools asking for financial contributions during the application process.

Headteachers warned it was impossible to create a "level playing field". John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Many parents will continue to be disappointed because they are given the false impression that they have a choice. In fact they only have the right to a preference."