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Headline: 'Thousands' miss school choices
Description: Ruth Kelly says the plans are not a return to the past
Thousands of children in England were not able to get into their first choice school this year, a survey suggests.

A survey of nearly a third of local education authorities by the Times Educational Supplement found in the worst-hit areas, only around half of children got their first choice.

It estimates 20,000 are appealing against their allocated schools.

The survey comes as the government is facing backbench opposition to its planned education reforms.

More control
The survey found that in London there were significant differences between the proportion of children allocated their first choice school.

In Barnet, just 52% of children received their first choice school, compared with 59% in Westminster and 72% in Hillingdon and Bromley.

However, more than nine in 10 children who moved from primary to secondary school this year in Dudley, Derby, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Salford, Sandwell, the West Midlands, and Kirkless, West Yorkshire, did get their first choice school.

One parent told the TES that his 11-year-old son had not received a place at any of the six secondary schools in the London Borough of Lewisham, where he lives.

Under the government's plans, outlined in a White Paper last month, schools would be granted greater independence from local authorities and could become "trust schools" with more control over their finances, staff and which pupils they admit.

Stronger and weaker
Some Labour backbenchers are concerned that the government's reforms will lead to "selection by the back door". Critics believe that the middle classes who already have access to good schools will benefit most under the plans.

Professor Alan Smithers of the University of Buckingham said the present education system "lacked coherence and shape" and the new proposals would go further down that same path.

"Making more schools their own admissions authorities means that the ambitious parents and schools will maximise their opportunities. But the poorest children will suffer.

"Some schools will get stronger because ambitious parents are working hard to get their children into them. But other schools will get weaker."

But the prime minister said in a speech on Friday that the government's proposals would help those from poorer backgrounds who were underachieving. He said schools would have to abide by the current admissions code on fair admissions.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has also said there "will be no return to selection by ability by the back door".

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "Proposals in the White Paper will make it easier for parents to obtain a school of their choice for their children whilst improving the quality of education."

He also said the government's own "wide-ranging" survey of the 33 London local authorities found 90% of parents received an offer of a place for their child at one of their chosen schools. This could have been their first choice, or a lower preference.


Date: 19.11.2005
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