MORE than 30,000 children have failed to win places at any of the secondary schools chosen by their parents, government figures are expected to show this week.

Many of the parents have missed out because they are refusing to choose inadequate local schools and are instead taking the gamble of applying to better ones farther from their homes, where they have a smaller chance of winning a place.

The result for many children is that they are stuck with the “sink” schools from which they have tried to escape. Others are being forced to travel miles across their home towns to and from school every day.

The areas affected include London, where competition for good schools is at its fiercest. More than 5,000 pupils in the capital have failed to get into any of their parents’ six preferred secondary schools. In Birmingham 980 failed, in Kent the figure was 840 and in Leeds it was 640.

“What you have now is parents who are so distraught at the quality of their local schools that they are effectively going on strike,” said Michael Gove, the shadow schools secretary.

“The whole admissions system has shown the degree of dissatisfaction that parents feel about the quality of schools in their local area. The challenge is not to divvy up a few good school places more creatively; it is to raise the quality of local schools.”

In most areas parents are allowed to choose up to three schools that they would like their child to attend, but in some parts of the country - such as London and Birmingham - as many as six can be named.

Last week it emerged that up to 120,000 children did not get into their first choice of secondary school, undermining the government’s promises to give every family a decent local school that they would be happy to choose.

One of the worst-hit areas was the north London borough of Islington, where 41% of pupils were denied places at their parents’ first-choice school.

The number of disappointed parents is set to lead to a boom in appeals against decisions, particularly among the 30,000-35,000 parents who did not win a place at any of their preferred schools.

Last Friday, Ed Balls, the schools secretary, visiting the conference of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he understood how “upset and disappointed” families were, saying parents who had only one high-quality school in their area did not have “a fair choice”.

A spokesman for his department said: “We urge parents to make full use of the preferences open to them.”

Additional reporting: Sandy Macaskill

Wrangling for places

Dubious tactics used by parents to ensure that their children do not have to attend unsatisfactory schools include taking out short six-month lets on flats in the catchment areas of their preferred choice and never moving in.

Councils counter this with unannounced home visits to ensure families are living where they say they are.

A parent in the West Midlands said that her son’s Catholic school had used a priestly “inquisitor” to check her home.

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