Schools admission system 'unfair'

Parents believe England's school admissions system is an unfair and confusing process, with many admitting they will go to any lengths to secure a favoured place for their child, a new survey suggests.

Six in 10 parents (60 per cent) say they found it, or are finding it stressful not knowing if their youngster will get a place at their preferred school.

And nearly one in four (24 per cent) admit they feel the whole application procedure is confusing and overwhelming.

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The poll, conducted by the parenting website Netmums, comes as parents across England submit their secondary school application forms.

The deadline for many areas was yesterday.

It is the latest research to highlight serious concerns over admissions policies which the Chief schools adjudicator Ian Craig has estimated last year led to some 4,200 fraudulent applications being made by parents who lied to help their child get a place at their school of choice.

Official figures released in March showed showed 83.2 per cent of pupils were offered a place at their preferred school in September, while the refusal rate of 16.8 per cent was unchanged.

In Yorkshire, more than 1,000 children were denied places at any of their preferred secondary schools from September, with almost 5,000 missing out on their first choice.

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Such has been the concern over possible cheating of the system by parents in Dorset that one council carried out covert surveillance under the terrorism laws to check on a family.

Poole Borough Council was reprimanded for using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act in August and issued an apology.

Parents are concerned about the choice of school in their area, with over half (53 per cent) saying there is a big difference between their preferred school and the others in their area.

A breakdown reveals this is true of parents of children of all ages, with 56 per cent of parents with children of secondary school saying there was a difference, along with 57 per cent of those with pre-schoolers and 54 per cent of those with primary age youngsters.

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More than four in 10 (44 per cent) of all the parents questioned said their child was worried they would be split up from their friends, while a similar proportion (39 per cent) found it difficult to understand why they might not get a place in the school they wanted to go to.

Nearly one in four parents (24 per cent) did not think their local admissions system was fair, with one in six (15 per cent) saying all areas should be moved to a "lottery system". Under this process children's names are effectively picked out of a hat and allocated schools.

Siobhan Freegard, co-founder of Netmums, said: "Applying for a secondary school is both terrifying and stressful – as a parent you know that this decision will impact on not only your child's education but also on their friendship circle, social life, extra curricular activities and sense of self."

The poll found that the distance from school is still most commonly used to allocate places, but not everyone is in favour of it.

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But the process of selecting pupils based on ability, used by many grammar schools, is also unpopular, with a third (34 per cent) saying it is wrong that some state schools use entrance exams, because children that are privately tutored have a better chance.

The survey also asked parents the lengths they are willing to go to in order to obtain a place at a good school.

Nearly six in 10 (57 per cent) said they would be willing to move house, while nearly half (43 per cent) simply said they would do "whatever it takes".

Just under one in 10 (9 per cent) said they would lie about where they live and over one in five (22 per cent) said they would go to church just to get their child into a good school.