Parents desperate to flee state classroom lottery flood private school with applications

Brighton College announced on Tuesday that it is breaking with 160 years of tradition by opening its doors to pupils at the age of 11 instead of 13.

The increase is mainly from parents driven to paying expensive private fees after their children missed out on their first choice in the state sector lottery introduced in some areas this year.

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Private school leaders said other establishments could follow suit and harmonise their entry years with the state system as random allocation of places spreads, threatening an exodus from state comprehensives.

The system has seen helplines inundated with calls from parents angry that their academically able children had been allocated poor-performing comprehensives.

Areas experimenting with lotteries saw a rise in the number of children failing to get into their preferred secondary schools. One in five - around 100,000 - missed out around the country.

Unprecedented competition for places saw just 51 per cent of pupils in some areas secure their first-choice school.

Thousands, including more than 5,000 in London, were left without a place at all after being given none of up to six preferences listed on a form.

They will be forced to wait for places to become available as other parents decide on their offers.

In Brighton, some 22 per cent of parents failed to get their children into their favoured school against 16 per cent last year.

Brighton College said its prep school, catering for children up to the age of 13, had been swamped with interest since the city ruled that places at oversubscribed secondary schools would be decided by random allocation.

Applications for Year Seven (age 11-12) places in the prep school rose 43 per cent. Other fee-paying schools in the area also saw increased demand.

Facing the prospect of rejecting talented pupils, the school is converting old arts rooms into classrooms for younger pupils.

The senior school, where day fees are £15,387 a year and boarding fees £24,078, will take up to 50 extra pupils aged 11 to 13 from September next year.

The prep school will continue to run alongside the new development.

Headmaster Richard Cairns said: "Our prep school simply cannot accommodate the rise in demand and it makes sense for us to set up our own lower school in the main college for 11 to 13-year-olds.

"There's no doubt the lottery has ignited this change. It is the most commonly quoted reason when parents come to visit."

He added: "It is quite sad. Education should never be a lottery.

"If all schools were good we would not need this great argument about schools and lotteries."

In addition to the city-wide Brighton scheme, at least 17 schools in Northampton, London, Hertfordshire, Milton Keynes and Derby have recently adopted lotteries.

Dr Bernard Trafford, chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of leading independent schools, said he could see more public schools following Brighton College's lead.

"I can imagine this happening elsewhere," he said. "I don't believe lotteries are a fair way.

"They do not solve the problems. Everyone feels disenfranchised instead of just some people.

"The over-subscription of popular schools is a massive issue which I don't think the Government has got to grips with."