HALE parents are preparing for a legal battle to change admissions agreements to guarantee places at Wade Deacon.

Over a month ago it was revealed that a special clause in the admissions policy which guaranteed places for Hale children at the school of their first preference would cease to exist.

New guidelines state that places will be allocated depending on whether children have siblings at the school, whether they have exceptional circumstances and the distance between home and school.

Hale's geographical location means that parents will be forced to take leftover places, and with Wade Deacon being over subscribed they will have no chance of securing a place.

Representatives of a special parents action group claim this discriminates against their children, and they have had an encouraging response from a barrister to challenge the Local Eduction Authority and make Hale an official feeder school.

But Education Director Graham Talbot argues that strict government guidelines mean that the Hale Exception cannot legally exist.

The special agreement, set up in September 1998, ceased in October this year. During a heated public meeting last week, Graham Talbot told the action group: "Legal advice states that an exception for Hale is not on and it is unsustainable.

"The need to conform with current legislation outweighs the view of the governors to continue with a special preference."

He added that he could not envisage a situation in the forseeable future where children would be 'Crossing Bridges' to schools in Runcorn, and assured parents that whatever school their children ended up at, they would receive an excellant education.

But Joyce Riley from the action group say they are not prepared to settle for what's left. She said: "We are appalled at the lack of consultation in all of this. They have misled alot of people and have tried to hide this away. I think they have been shown in a very poor light, and during the meeting they were unable and unprepared to answer many of the questions raised.

"We are now in the process of applying for legal aid to take this to judicial review, and we have had a very encouraging response from our barrister. I know other schools have succeed in challenging similar decisions so I hope we can do the same"

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.