Like many parents here in the UK, this week has been the week where we learn what secondary school our eldest boy has been allocated. We were disappointed when we were allocated our third choice school, something that we will be appealing against.

Looking into the appeals system and taking an active interest in the now annual debate about what choice really means when choosing a school, it is alarming to discover that not all Local Education Authorities (LEA’s) have the same criteria when it comes to admissions.

When choosing a secondary school (when did we all stop calling them High schools by the way?) in my LEA we are given the opportunity to list our three preferred schools. However, the advice give by LEA admissions staff is that at least one of those schools should be a school in your catchment area. This is because the LEA is obliged to offer at least one school in a students catchment area, if this is listed. The LEA’s only duty would be to find a place at any other school under the LEA jurisdiction.

This raises the possibility, however remote, of your child be sent to a school at the furthest side of the city

Effectively means that if, like us, we did not want out son to go any of the schools in our immediate area, we have only had the choice of choosing two schools.

Listening and reading comments from around the country, I am hearing tales from parents that have now received any of there preferred five or six schools. This obviously starts to border on the ridiculous and really highlights the problems faced with “choice”

A call to the admissions team in my LEA, who I can’t fault for there service, confirmed that each LEA has the ability to set the amount of schools that parents can choose. Indeed as I questioned, there is no limit set in current legislation. It would be entirely possible, though not probable, for an LEA to say to parents applying that they could only select one school.

This would appear to fly in the face of the spirit of providing parental choice.