Revealed: The postcode lottery for high school places

Feb 26 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

IT IS a “myth” that Liverpool parents can send their children to the secondary school of their choice, the Tories claimed yesterday after uncovering new figures.

The Conservatives leapt on statistics revealing just 78% of the city’s 11-year-olds went to their parents’ first-choice school this year – far less than in neighbouring authorities.

Even worse, 8% of children – nearly one in 12 – were unable to win a place at any of three preferred secondary schools listed on their application form and were forced to enrol elsewhere.

In contrast, a parent’s chance of gaining a place at their first-choice secondary is as high as 96% in Warrington, 96.4% in St Helens and 97% in Halton.

Similarly, the success rate for one of their three preferred schools is Warrington (98%), St Helens (99.5%) and Halton (99.6%).

Michael Gove, the Conservative children’s spokesman, said: “These figures show that, for large numbers of parents, the idea that they can choose a school for their children is a myth.

“At the moment, there aren’t enough good school places to go round. The most acute problems are in inner city areas, which means that it is the poorest children who miss out.”

But Liverpool City Council, which acknowledged that 14 of its 31 secondaries were over-subscribed, said it was impossible to meet every choice without “elastic walls”.

The figures, obtained by the Tories under the Freedom of Information Act, were released just days before parents find out whether they were successful in their choice of secondary school.

Every local education secretary in the country will send out letters of acceptance or rejection on “Admissions Day” on Monday. The issue of parental choice has risen up the political agenda, with the government introducing a new admissions code last year to stamp on schools using interviews to “cream off” the most able pupils.

Meanwhile, the Tories pledged to create an extra 220,000 new places, by making it easier for groups of parents, as well as charities and philanthropists, to set up independent schools within the state sector.

Mr Gove added: “We will give every parent in Britain the legal power to take their child out of a school they think is failing and apply to a New Academy.

“This will give all parents a meaningful choice of school.”

But a Liverpool council spokesman said: “You have to be realistic. Without elastic walls, it is just physically impossible to accommodate all these pupils.”

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said the Tory survey was unreliable, because LEAs had used different methods to collect information.