It seems even more pupils from the Queen's Park, Elm Grove, Kemp Town, Hanover and Whitehawk areas are disappointed at not getting a place at their chosen secondary school this year than in previous years (The Argus, April 23).

There are few feeder primary schools in these areas and, contrary to your editorial, there are no hard and fast catchment areas around the schools.

It is easy to choose a school suited to your child, given the wealth of information available, such as Ofsted reports, league tables, school specialisms and the opportunities to visit schools and read their shiny prospectuses.

But your choice will probably count for nothing if you are unfortunate enough to live in one of these areas.

Often, the school you choose fills up with children who live nearer and those living in east Brighton end up with whatever places remain at any school with surplus places, no matter how far away it is.

This happened to my family last year and we went through a stressful and uncertain appeals process. No wonder many parents reluctantly move house to be nearer a secondary school during the junior years.

This can mean, in the intervening period, they drive their children across the city for their remaining time at primary school, contributing to traffic congestion and offsetting the council's "walk to school safely" policy.

Of course, it is not easy for the council to please everyone, given the geographical distribution of schools. However, it should serve its residents in these areas better.

The council knew the closure of Comart, and the introduction of the safe-walking policy, would only make a bad situation worse. It should give more consideration to these "no man's land" areas.

-Mrs M Oliver, Brighton