A war of words has broken out between three popular schools after claims that one was trying to become selective and discriminate against pupils with special educational needs.

The Eastwood School will now no longer be able to use "ability" tests in sport or performing arts on some prospective pupils after complaints from two other schools.

The school is allowed to use selective methods to choose up to ten per cent of its pupils.

The King Edmund School in Rochford and FitzWimarc School in Rayleigh raised six objections to Eastwood's admission policy for September.

These were over the catchment area, the allocation of places, claims over the quality of sporting facilities and alleged examples of pupils being refused admission because the foundation school is said to have discriminated in its admissions policy against pupils with special educational needs.

The school will now have to use the word "excellent" to describe its sporting facilities, rather than "outstanding" as previously described, and also may require students to undergo an assessment of their "aptitude" in sports and the performing arts rather than their "ability".

But the headteachers who lodged the objections, Jim Fuller of FitzWimarc School and Graham Abel of King Edmund School, said they were disappointed with the decisions by Government schools adjudicator Andrew Collier.

Mr Fuller said the Eastwood School's designated catchment area now infringed upon an area traditionally in the catchment area for his school.

He said: "I was astonished because I can't see the justice in changing a tradition that has gone on for so many years."

Mr Abel criticised Southend Council for not objecting to the admissions arrangements for the Eastwood School.

David Penketh, headteacher of Eastwood School, said that in a heavily over-subscribed school the admissions arrangements were potentially a point of contention.

He said: "The school governors have been working with Southend Local Education Authority on a scheme to provide a limited number of additional places at Eastwood in the near future. The use of the word aptitude is more semantically precise in relation to the priority admissions procedures and is welcomed by the governors."

A spokesman for Eastwood School said parents inside and outside the school's catchment area had the chance to put their children forward to qualify for one of the specialist places in sports or the performing arts, comprising ten per cent of the school's places.

But rather than showing "ability", successful candidates would have to demonstrate "aptitude" - the potential to benefit from the specialist environment.

He added that there was no discrimination against children with special educational needs and that the school caters for ten children that have special needs.

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