I've been trying to make head or tail of the document entitled Allocation Of Year 7 Places September 2008 that accompanied the secondary school admission letters this week.

The first thing that struck me was why were statistics shown for every school except Patcham and Falmer?

It later came to light on The Argus website that both Falmer and Patcham had a number of children directed to them, ie, allocated a place there despite neither school being listed as a preference.

No real surprise there then. We were always led to believe that these schools would be undersubscribed while the majority of the others would be oversubscribed.

These two schools would therefore accommodate those pupils who could not be accommodated elsewhere.

We were even told by council officials during the secondary admissions review that despite us being in the single catchment for Falmer we would still have a "choice" as we could also choose Patcham High because it would be undersubscribed.

What then became evident was that despite Varndean undergoing expansion by two forms of entry for September this year, at a cost of £2.5 million, to ensure the joint catchment of Varndean and Dorothy Stringer did in fact catch, 27 of these places have been offered under priority five, ie, out of catchment area.

So I understand it that part of this £2.5 million expansion will be utilised by applicants from outside the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment area, quite possibly the neighbouring single catchment areas of Patcham and Falmer, which both have desks going empty.

  • Jane Kistnasamy, Coombe Road, Brighton

Councillor Pat Hawkes accuses The Argus of "confused and sensationalist"

reporting (Letters, March 6).

Having read the report and analysis I can only conclude that what displeases Coun Hawkes is the fact that The Argus did not put the positive spin on the outcome of the new admissions procedure that she does in her letter.

Why would it? The Argus is an independent newspaper not a mouthpiece for the Labour Party.

In her final paragraph Coun Hawkes states: "All our schools are good." If this is the case, not just in Brighton and Hove but across the country, why has it been deemed necessary by the Government to change the process?

Until politicians at all levels and from all parties stop using education as a political football and start to address the question of why parents perceive some schools to be better than others, Coun Hawkes must expect continued disappointment at what is reported in the newspaper.

  • Lynne Hubbard, Cobton Drive Hove

With regard to the school admissions saga, I can only say things have not changed and this is nothing new.

When we had to choose for our children 20 years ago there was still the problem of choice.

The only difference was that most children were sent to the nearest secondary school so we had very little choice most of the time.

Now the only difference is parents further afield are getting their children into the school of their choice and again the "better" schools are oversubscribed and parents are again upset and anxious.You cannot please all the parents all of the time.

My only worry is which way it will all go. Will all schools become "better"

or will they all become "worse"? Surely the answer is they all should be equal so that all the children are given the same opportunities.

We must lose these good and bad tags that seem to label certain schools and which are demoralising for both pupils and teachers.

  • Gay Patrick Bernard Road Brighton

With regard to the debate about parental choice in schooling, a fair and equal system for all would be to integrate the independent and state systems of education.

  • David Anthony, St Andrew's Road Portslade