In the battleground of school admissions there are bound to be winners and losers in the competition for the best establishments.

But more parents are refusing to take the decision lying down if their children miss out on places.

The rise in appeals in the latest figures reflects a greater determination among families to secure a good education for their children and also a growing awareness that such rulings can be challenged.

Middle-class parents often buy houses close to good schools, normally at a price premium, to secure a place. Some use even more devious methods, such as “finding God” to win favour with a faith school or pretending to live at a relative’s house or renting a flat while applying to be within the catchment area of a popular school.

However head teachers have become wise to these tricks and, in the face of intense competition, are ever more stringent.

Some local authorities have even resorted to secretly filming parents who they suspect of lying about their address, or taking court action against them.

Others have introduced selection by lottery, meaning proximity to the school has no bearing on whether the child gets a place.

Last year the Government tightened up the school admissions code, regulating the reasons that schools can give for turning down a child, to stop them from cherry-picking high-performing pupils.

Children in care are a top priority and preference can also be given to siblings of a current pupil.

However schools can no longer interview prospective families, ask what parents do for a living or request any form of payment.

That the appeal figures have risen so considerably for children starting school in September 2008, particularly in primary schools, heralds worse to come.

Some schools are reporting a rise in applications from parents who would, in more prosperous times, have educated their children privately.

A combination of the recession and rising birth rate will make competition even more cut-throat and probably lead to further growth in appeals against admission decisions.

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