More schools 'using lottery system'

But some parents are unhappy with the system, claiming it is not fair that chance should deprive their children of a place at their local school.

A survey by the BBC of local authorities across England found seven schools in Hertfordshire using lotteries to allocate places, four schools in Northamptonshire, another four in London and individual schools in Milton Keynes and Derbyshire.

The decision by Brighton and Hove council last year to adopt a ballot as a tie-breaker for awarding places at oversubscribed schools provoked outrage from some parents.

Chris Murrell, head of St Albans Girls' School, in Hertfordshire, told the BBC that random allocation of places was fairer.

She said: "There has been a large section of parents who have never had the opportunity to have a place for their child in a school like this.

"That has changed and that in itself is a good thing because it all depended in the past on where you lived. That can't be fair."

Over-subscribed schools typically use catchment areas and allocate places to families living closest. But many of the best state schools in affluent suburbs have become largely the preserve of families who can afford to buy expensive homes nearby.

The Government's new school admissions code recommends lotteries as one way to stop middle-class parents buying their way into the most popular secondaries, giving poorer families a fair chance.

Chief schools adjudicator Philip Hunter acknowledged that lotteries were likely to be "deeply unpopular" with articulate parents. But councils must act to prevent the most sought-after schools selecting pupils from wealthier backgrounds who are "easier to teach", he said.