School Gate: School lotteries - the fairest way forward?

The awarding of school places by lottery is becoming more common in England, with at least nine local authorities planning to use the method this year. In one area, names will actually be drawn out of a hat.

About 40 per cent of councils are expected to use lottery systems to allocate places in oversubscribed schools next year. After the successful introduction last year of a lottery to allocate secondary school places in Brighton and Hove, local authorities in the rest of the country are beginning to share the view that lotteries, sometimes known as ballots or random allocation systems, constitute the fairest admissions systems.

Councils and schools that operate their own admissions were given the option to use lotteries last year by a new code that was designed to introduce greater equity. It followed concerns that many of the best state schools have become largely the preserve of families who can afford to buy homes near by.

Les Lawrence, chairman of the children and young people’s board at the Local Government Association (LGA) and a Cabinet member for children on Birmingham City Council, said: “I feel that, come next year, we will see getting on for 40 per cent of local authorities having at least some form of lottery.

“When you are trying to balance competing influences around popular schools, dealing with equity between different types of community, a ballot seems to be the only fair way of justifying to parents that every child has an equal chance where places are oversubscribed.”

Although last year’s school lottery provoked a backlash from some parents in Brighton, the council considers it to have been a resounding success. The number of successful appeals against admission decisions fell from 63 to 38 within a year, and the proportion of parents who got a school place at one of their preferred schools rose from 93.3 to 98.5 per cent.

Vanessa Brown, a Cabinet member for children and young people, on Brighton & Hove City Council, said: “The new system is much fairer for families across the city. We now have local schools for local children with all the associated benefits that brings.” Many councils waited until this spring to see the outcome of the Brighton lottery before beginning to put in place their own versions. Mr Lawrence said that it would take them at least a year. “It really does need time to ensure that due notice of a lottery is given and to ensure that the information given out to parents is understood,” he said.

A Timessurvey of 73 local authorities found that nine had schools using or prepared to use lotteries this year as well as Brighton. They are: Hertfordshire, South Gloucestershire, Buckingham, Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Norfolk.

At St Peter’s Roman Catholic School, Gloucestershire, children’s names are picked out of a hat once all other criteria have been fulfilled. The school has already received 400 applications for 227 places. In previous years parents petitioned governors for places for their children.

Lawrence Montagu, the headmaster, said that he understood why parents were aghast when the process was introduced, but added: “The only fair way to do it is to have a ballot.”

Times recommends

• Students abandon the drink for gyms and juice
• Ofsted: third of Baby P-style reviews inadequate
• Top boys' school picks first woman head