Outrage as teacher's daughter gets place at 'full' school

A popular school is being accused of giving preferential treatment after a teacher's daughter was admitted despite living more than 20 miles away.

The Year 7 pupil is understood to have bypassed the formal admissions procedure and never officially applied to attend.

Meanwhile, children who live close to Tretherras School in Newquay, Cornwall - which boasts high academic results and is praised in Ofsted reports - have been denied a place.

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Parents say they were shocked when the 12-year-old girl, whose father teaches at the school, and whose mother works at a local primary, turned up at the start of term despite living more than 20 miles away in Bodmin.

Yesterday Caroline McRobbie, whose home overlooks the school, said: "My daughter is third on the waiting list.

"She came home over the moon because all her friends at Tretherras told her there was a girl from Bodmin in their class, so she would have no trouble getting in.

"When I tried to find out about it, the council denied the girl existed. It was as if she was invisible."

Cornwall County Council wrote to Mrs McRobbie claiming it could not find the staff member's child in the "secondary transfer process".

But it later emerged this was because the girl had never officially applied for a place at the 1,500-pupil school, which turns away scores of applicants every year.

A few weeks later, the council wrote to local MP Dan Rogerson and explained: "A pupil has been admitted to the school and no admissions application has been

completed."

The letter claimed the girl was let in by "a senior member of staff who has since retired" and added that she will not be removed from the school because current legislation forbids the council from doing so.

It went on to say that children who failed to get a place at the school "have not been disadvantaged" by the girl's attendance because her place was surplus to the official quota for the year.

Mrs McRobbie, 42, responded: "How can they say children who live at the gates, whose friends all go to the school and who are well qualified for entry, have not been disadvantaged?

"Of course they have been disadvantaged. Everybody at the school must have known they were letting in a teacher's child and they're just shifting the blame."

Another parent, who asked not to be named, said he felt he had wasted his time in trying to get his daughter a place at the school legitimately.

The 59-year-old added: "We argued the technicalities, and all the time some teacher was ushering a colleague's child in the back door.

"Everyone was shocked by what happened and the education authorities just denied any knowledge of it.

"They denied the girl existed when we all saw her there every day.

"I just want people to know how school admissions are run."

A spokesman for the county council said the school's board of governors is "taking this matter very seriously".

She added: "Our investigation showed our clear procedures and protocols were not followed by the school in this case.

"The school has co-operated fully in the investigation and has given a complete assurance that it will fully comply with the admissions procedures in the future."

The school and the parents of the child refused to comment yesterday.