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Schools breaking admissions rules Schools 'breaking admissions law'
(30 minutes later)
Schools in some areas are breaking new rules designed to make the admissions system fairer. A "significant minority" of schools in England are breaking new laws that were designed to make the admissions system fairer, the government has said.
A government probe found schools in Manchester, Northamptonshire and Barnet had illegally asked parents for money or information about their backgrounds. In a sample three areas - Manchester, Northamptonshire and Barnet - it found parents illegally being asked for money or information about their backgrounds.
It comes as new figures showed nearly one in five children failed to get a place at their first choice secondary school in England this year. Schools Minister Jim Knight said it was "shocking" this was still going on.
Some 81.6% of the 519,312 children who applied got places at their top school. Official figures showed 18.4% of children failed to get a place at their first choice school this year.
Some 94% were however offered a place at one of their three preferred schools.
'Unacceptable''Unacceptable'
The new, tougher admissions code came into practice in February last year.
Ministers asked officials to make the compliance checks.
Manchester, Northamptonshire and Barnet were chosen simply as being representative of a metropolitan authority, a shire county and a London borough - and were areas where there had not been objections to admissions policies.
"We have no reason to think that these areas are any different from any other authorities around the country," said the Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls.
"The large majority of schools appear to be complying with the code," he said.
"However, a significant minority of schools in our sample appear not to be compliant with the code, of which a disproportionate number are voluntary aided or foundation schools."
The areas comprise 84 secondary schools and 486 primaries. Of those 570,119 are voluntary aided or foundation schools controlling their own admissions.
Speaking to journalists, neither Mr Balls nor Mr Knight would put a figure on the number that were apparently acting illegally, pending verification.
But Mr Balls said: "When we saw the evidence we were very concerned. This was not a handful, it was certainly in the tens of schools."
Mr Knight said: "The fact that there are some things that are singled out in primary legislation that are still going on is shocking."
The schools in question were caught asking parents banned questions about their marital status, financial background or even for financial contributions to the school.The schools in question were caught asking parents banned questions about their marital status, financial background or even for financial contributions to the school.
All of these requests are outlawed under the new admissions code which came into force last year. Mr Balls said that in a number of cases the requirement for a financial contribution ran into "many hundreds of pounds per term".
The code was intended to stamp out unfair practices that allow schools to select pupils that they think will be more able. Parents of pupils past and present at these schools may seek legal redress Chris Keates National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers
Executive Director of the Association of Directors of Children's Services Chris Waterman told the BBC: "What they have found is, in spite of the code, schools are still asking parents to make a financial contribution as a condition of admission - which is illegal. "I want to be clear that this practice must stop immediately," he said.
"They are asking about the marital status of parents - which isn't allowed. Parents must be told the payments were voluntary and those who wanted their money back should be reimbursed.
"This is totally unacceptable and very much against the excellent school admissions code that was published a year ago." The general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, Chris Keates, added: "It is also likely, and entirely understandable, that parents of pupils past and present at these schools may seek legal redress to recover monies inappropriately taken from them."
Teachers' leaders claim the notion of school choice raises false expectations. The code was intended to stamp out unfair practices that allow schools to select pupils in covert ways.
The government is now going to amend a bill currently before Parliament to put a new duty on local authorities to report each year "on the legality, fairness and effectiveness of all school admission arrangements in their area".
Has a school made unreasonable demands on you in exchange for a place for your child? Send us your comments using the post form below: Local admission forums, which are supposed to monitor arrangements, will be reviewed.
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Mr Knight said he had spoken to "extremely senior figures" in the Anglican, Catholic and Jewish faiths and they were fully supportive of the government's actions.