Two out of three schools breaking admissions rules, warns watchdog

Two thirds of schools are failing to comply with the rules designed to give parents a fair chance of securing places for their children.

Hundreds are committing "substantial" breaches of the statutory code, watchdog Sir Philip Hunter said.

Sir Philip, the chief schools adjudicator for England, said he did not think headteachers were deliberately flouting the rules to gain an advantage but he called for sweeping reforms.

His findings come as hundreds of thousands of families apply for secondary school places for next year.

In London, one in three children failed to win a place at their chosen secondary school this year.

Ministers introduced the admissions code less than a year ago to stop middle-class families dominating the best schools at the expense of children from poorer homes.

In March, Children's Secretary Ed Balls sparked a row by claiming dozens of faith schools were breaking the new laws. He ordered Sir Philip to investigate the scale of the problem.

Launching his report, Sir Philip said he had found "extensive problems" with many schools "finding it difficult to compile their admission arrangements in a way that met the precise requirements" of the code.

The watchdog investigated 3,000 of the 5,300 primary and secondary schools which set their own admissions rules as well as councils that control admissions across an area.

Sir Philip found "a very large number" of breaches of the code:

●2,000 schools failed to give parents clear definitions of crucial terms such as "distance from home to school", "place of residence" or "sibling".

●More than 800 schools asked parents for banned extra information, such as marital status or occupation, which could be used to discriminate.

●The same number made "more substantial" breaches, including failing to give priority to children in care and setting incomprehensible rules.

●Schools were still giving preferential treatment to parents who listed them as their first choice, despite the new laws banning this practice. Sir Philip said he was confident schools which had broken the rules would put the problems right for next year. He called for reforms to the admissions code to include centrally agreed definitions of terms such as "parents", "siblings", "distance", and "home address".

The Government should create a central website with standard wording, he said. Councils and schools should be required to post their admissions policies online with links to the national website so their arrangements can be easily scrutinised.

Headteachers claim the 130-page code is too complicated.

Last week Drayton Manor High School in Ealing won a High Court battle with the adjudicator, who had accused it of unfairly refusing to give places to poor children.