DOZENS of Huddersfield families face a fight to get their child into the school of their choice.

They have had their requests rejected by Kirklees Council education chiefs.

Now a series of school admission appeal hearings are set to be heard.

The hearings, dealing with parents whose child has not got into the Kirklees school of their choice, will be heard over the next few weeks.

The authority today confirmed that 164 appeals have been lodged by parents unhappy with the authority’s decision about the choice of primary, middle or secondary school choice.

Fifty-two of those appeals have been heard or are due to be heard for admission to secondary schools in September, 28 for junior and middle schools and 84 for reception (primary) schools.

There are no figures available for appeals lodged with aided and foundation schools as the governors are the admission authority and are responsible for ensuring appeals take place.

The flood of appeals follows letters which were sent out last month to parents for school admissions in September.

When there are more applicants than there are places available at popular schools, specific admissions criteria is used to allocate places.

In Kirklees the admission criteria are:

Children in public care (looked after children)

Children who live in the school’s Priority Admission Area (PAA) who have an older brother or sister attending from the same address at the date of admission (the younger sibling rule)

Children who live in the school’s PAA

Children who live outside the school’s PAA who have an older brother or sister attending from the same address at the date of admission (the younger sibling rule)

Children who live outside the school’s PAA.

In many parts of the country parents use second homes or rented accommodation to ensure they can get their child into their first school choice which could be oversubscribed because of good GCSE results or performance in Ofsted inspections.

A woman in London has been told she could be prosecuted for allegedly giving her mother’s address to try to get her child into a good school.

The schools’ admissions watchdog says parents should appeal if they are ‘disappointed’ by the secondary place they have been allocated.

Ian Craig, chief adjudicator for schools in England, spoke as over half a million families found whether they had their first preference place.

But researchers have warned that the admissions process is too complex for many parents.

Last year, about one in five pupils did not get their first choice school.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls has admitted that the system is not perfect but said it is fairer than it had ever been.

“We’ve already given extra powers to the chief schools adjudicator, he can now do investigations.

“Any changes in admissions arrangements have to be consulted on with parents.”