Parents face lottery for school places
A Labour-run council has become the first in England to choose to run a lottery for places at popular schools to stop middle-class parents dominating the best secondaries.
Brighton and Hove City Council said the new system for children starting secondary school in September next year would be fairer to pupils from less affluent homes.
When schools are oversubscribed, an 'electronic ballot' will be used to allocate places, rather than the current system of giving places to children who live closest to the school, the council said.
"High priority has been given to getting a better balance in schools of children from a variety of backgrounds," a council statement said.
The chair of the Brighton and Hove's children, families and schools committee, Councillor Pat Hawkes, added: "No school admissions system can make 100 per cent of parents happy, but I believe strongly that this new system will be fairer to more people than the current one."
Brighton and Hove is believed to be the first council in England to decide to use the new lottery option after ministers reformed the school admissions code.
The new code, which comes into force today, advises schools that lotteries are a good way to allocate places fairly when popular schools are oversubscribed.
Parents are invited to choose their favoured schools in order of preference but many secondaries attract far more applications than they have places available.
Ministers proposed the lottery option as a way to loosen the grip of middle-class parents on the best state schools.
For years affluent parents have paid their way into the best schools by buying increasingly expensive houses within catchment areas.
The Government's new school admissions code states: "Random allocation can widen access to schools for those unable to afford to buy houses near to favoured schools and create greater social equity."
This week more than a million parents will find out whether they have succeeded in winning places at their first choice schools for this September.
One report suggested that up to 200,000 children will miss out this year. In some parts of the country up to a third of pupils failed to get into their first choice secondary school, according to the Daily Telegraph.
In Birmingham 33 per cent missed out on their first choice secondary and one in 10 on their preferred primary school.
18 per cent of children in Liverpool failed to get into their first choice school while in London, where parents can list their six preferred schools, one in 14 children failed to get a place in any of the six choices.
On Monday the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank called for schools to be stripped of their power to run their own admissions policies.
It warned that schools with control over their admissions were far more likely to select pupils based on their academic potential and social background.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "Admission arrangements are decided at local level, after consultation between admission authorities, local authorities and schools.
"Admission authorities (the governing bodies of foundation and voluntary aided schools, local authorities for other schools) should aim to ensure that their arrangements enable parents' preferences to be met to the maximum extent possible.
"All children, regardless of their background, must have a fair and equal chance of getting into a school of their choice.
"That's why we have toughened up the new mandatory schools admission code to crack down on unfair admissions policies and prevent schools cherry-picking the brightest pupils."
