Parents booking hotel rooms inside school catchment areas and registering the address to win places

Parents are booking into hotels near good schools to give them an address in the catchment area, it emerged yesterday.

Officials revealed one couple registered a room as their permanent home to boost their chances of getting a place at their chosen school.

The case illustrates the lengths that parents will go to in their determination to avoid under-performing comprehensives.

It emerged as figures showed 100,000 parents missed out on their first choice secondaries this year and claims were made that some state schools are effectively charging admission fees.

Ministers said an investigation had found some schools require parents to commit to regular voluntary payments as a condition of admission.

As church leaders hit back at the claims, details emerged of ploys used by parents to beat fierce competition for places at sought-after schools.

Officials in Dorset said they had caught one couple passing off a hotel as their permanent residence.

Another had moved into a friend's house temporarily to better his chances of getting his child into a nearby school.

Growing numbers of councils are insisting applicants provide proof of residence but many require parents only to live at the specified address on the date the application is submitted.

Other parents have rented homes near good schools to give them an address in the catchment area.

When they move back home, they can get correspondence from the school sent

on using redirection services. Councillors in Dorset are calling for parents to provide three forms of identification. They have already voted for school places to be withdrawn if fraudulent applications are uncovered by the October half-term of their first year.

Liberal Democrat Fred Drane said: "It is completely unbelievable - people just shouldn't be able to get away with this sort of thing.

"You have to provide three forms of identification to prove your address when getting a library card but not when applying for a school"

Councillor David Milsted, also a Lib-Dem, added that he had heard of one case where a father who lived outside a catchment area asked a friend within it if he could use the address so his daughter could get into the school.

He added: "The poor chap immediately wrote to the headteacher saying he knew the school was popular but that what his friend had done was outrageous."

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said that cases of parents trying to mislead it were rare but where it did happen firm action was taken.

Some councils make doorstep checks to flush out parents who are bending the rules.

Yesterday, the Church of England and Roman Catholics attacked suggestions their schools were using admissions criteria to "exclude" poorer children.

Giving evidence to MPs yesterday, they poured cold water on ministers' claims that schools are requiring parents to commit to making payments as a condition of entry.

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover, said the assertions needed to be "translated into reality".

He said he knew of one case where a school was asking for a contribution but it had no bearing on admissions.