FIVE Bromley schools have to back down on plans to change their admission policies after accusations of discrimination.

Governors of Coopers School, Ravens Wood, Beaverwood Girls, Darrick Wood and Langley Park School for Boys claim massive over-subscription forced them to reconsider their admission criteria.

The secondary schools wanted to give preference to children whose parents work there as well as those with brothers or sisters at the school.

But claiming this discriminated against children "on the grounds of parental occupation", the local education authority (LEA) appealed to a Government adjudicator after talks with governors broke down earlier this year. Bromley also objected to attempts to extend the definition of when siblings were taught at the school to an "undefined length of time".

Assistant director of education Gillian Pearson said: "It's a good outcome which will ensure consistency of admissions across the borough.

"All schools are under pressure but we can't operate a system which is unfair."

All five schools are massively over-subscribed with applications reaching up to four times the number of places available.

It was hoped plans to admit children of permanent workers could be used as a way of recruiting and retaining staff.

But adjudicator Louise Kidd said: "I do not consider benefits to the schools' staffing arrangements should outweigh the interests of parents."

She also raised concerns over new housing developments which could "raise the number of parents expressing preference for the schools".

Chairman of governors at Langley Park Boys, Charlie Grimble, said: "We are disappointed. The numbers involved would not have had a significant impact on the borough. There are more important issues in education at the moment, such as how to recruit good staff."