Catchment areas 'still possible' (From The Northern Echo)

Catchment areas 'still possible'

5:31pm Thursday 29th July 2010 in

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CATCHMENT areas could still be used to decide which children get into a county’s best state schools, council chiefs have hinted.

Questions were raised over whether a proposed consultation on introducing the "home zones" for entry into County Durham’s oversubscribed secondary schools would actually go ahead.

Councillor Nigel Martin, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group on Durham County Council, asked whether the authority’s cabinet was sincere in asking for a feasibility study, during Wednesday's full council meeting.

But Coun Claire Vasey, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said David Williams, the council’s corporate director for children and young people’s services, would be asked to advise on whether it should consult on introducing catchment areas.

Mr Williams would also be asked to advise on the impact of the Government’s decision to axe several school rebuilding schemes planned under Building Schools for the Future (BSF), Coun Vasey said.

The admissions row centres on top-scoring Durham Johnston School, in Durham City, which was rebuilt last year, at a cost of £23.8m.

Earlier this month, hundreds of parents in poorer areas outside Durham were left frustrated, after a the Independent Schools Adjudicator ruled priority for places should go to children living closest to the school.

Durham County Council could set new admissions criteria for September 2012.