School lauded by Blair accused of 'segregation'

Drayton Manor High School has been praised as one of the best in the country and has seen its results nearly double over the past 14 years. Its head was praised by former prime minister Tony Blair and knighted for services to education after he transformed a school terrorised by yobs into a sought-after comprehensive.

But lawyers representing the school will launch a High Court attempt today to overturn a damning ruling that its admission policy is unlawful and fuels "social segregation". The school in Ealing, west London, is accused of deliberately excluding children from deprived local estates, who might drag down its league table position, to make room for wealthier children who boost its performance but live further away.

The Schools Adjudicator, the admissions watchdog, ordered the high-performing secondary to change its admissions rules just days before parents were due to submit applications for next year's places.

The adjudicator ruled its policy of only admitting children for whom the school was their closest breached admissions rules. Under the policy, a child from a tough council estate less than a mile from the school would be excluded in favour of children of well-to-do, owner-occupied housing in Ealing who live further away. This was because the council estate had another secondary school that was closer to it.

Drayton Manor has become popular and successful in recent years with around 1,400 applications for 240 places. Last summer, 66 per cent of Drayton Manor's pupils achieved five good GCSE passes, or 60 per cent including English and maths. When Sir Pritpal Singh took over as headteacher in 1993, only 35 per cent of pupils achieved five good passes.

At neighbouring Brentside High School only 40 per cent of pupils achieved five good GCSE passes including English and maths last summer compared to an Ealing average of 49 per cent and a national average of 46 per cent. More than a quarter of Brentside pupils have severe special needs compared to 8.9 per cent at Drayton Manor, 14.1 per cent across Ealing and 8.5 per cent on average in England.

The adjudicator ordered Drayton Manor to switch to a strictly distance criteria – admitting children who live closest to it. In the ruling, he said the present policy indirectly discriminated against children from poorer parts of the borough by denying them access to an excellent school. "The criterion does not actively promote equity and indirectly discriminates against economically less advantaged families unable to afford housing in the areas benefiting from it."

Sir Pritpal rejected the allegation as "preposterous". In a letter to parents, he defended the school's stance, arguing that it was right for youngsters to attend their nearest school. "The school has received legal advice that the complaint is unfounded, and that the local authority has misinterpreted the law," he wrote.

School entrance: Rules for headteachers

*Schools must not use either face-to-face interviews or telephone interviews to decide whether a child is to be offered a place.

*Attendance at an open evening or other meeting at the school must not be a condition for allocating places.

*Schools must give highest priority to children in care if they are oversubscribed.

*Schools must not use supplementary application forms which ask for any personal details about parents, such as criminal convictions, marital status or their educational achievements.

*Schools must make it clear that there is no charge related to the admission of a child to a school.