TWENTY-NINE secondary schools in the county which have been using the first preference system to select pupils at 11 have been told they have to stop.

The schools must now abandon the system, after the Independent Schools Adjudicator ruled that he had upheld Kent County Council’s objections to first preference first.

The adjudicator decided that, while he understood why the schools wanted to use the method to prioritise applications from children, it was in the interests of fairness and clarity that schools in Kent should all use the same system.

The schools will now have to change to use KCC’s equal preference system for pupils transferring to secondary schools in September 2007.

Under the equal preference scheme, schools are not told whether they were named first, second or third on parents’ application forms.

Pupils are then selected by decisions based on criteria such as how far away the pupil lives and whether a sibling already attends. The order in which the school was placed on the form will be taken into account only if more than one school offers a place.

Under the first preference schemes, schools give priority to pupils who named their school as their first preference.

KCC cabinet member for education and school improvement, John Simmonds (Con) said: "I am pleased the adjudicator has upheld our objection.

"These last 29 schools were using a completely different system to the remaining 72 secondary schools in Kent, causing parents further confusion at what can already be a stressful time."