STEPHEN LEWIS talks to York education supremo Janet Looker about plans to expand Fulford School - and the latest twist in the old row over admissions.

IT'S the news that parents desperate to send their children to Fulford School will have been wanting to hear. The city council is preparing a bid for at least £2 million of Government cash, which would enable the popular school to be expanded to meet the ever-increasing demand for places there.

Fulford is York's most overcrowded school, with 1,239 pupils crammed into an institution designed to take 1,056. Eighteen temporary classrooms have had to be pressed into action to cope with the demand for space.

The school's popularity is hardly surprising. It emerged as one of the best state schools in the country in terms of A-level performance when results were announced this summer, and fared equally well when the GCSE results were published. More than three-quarters of pupils gained five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C - its best performance ever.

But the school has become a victim of its own success. So keen is the competition for places that the question of who should be allowed to go there has become one of the hottest political issues in York. It has led to a repeated tinkering with the school's catchment area, as politicians on the 'hung' council wrestle for the political advantage.

The most recent twist in the long-running saga came when Lib Dems and Tories on the city council united recently to overturn the Labour group's admissions policy and ensure the villages of Dunnington and Elvington were returned to the school's catchment area.

That led to claims by Labour's Fishergate ward councillor John Boardman that the decision could mean children from Fishergate may in future no longer be able to go to there - claims immediately refuted by Lib Dem leader Steve Galloway.

"It is quite possible that to make this Liberal Democrat/Tory policy work and to avoid these impacts (pushing Fulford beyond its capacity) Fishergate parents will find their own children moved out of the Fulford catchment area," Coun Boardman claimed in a Labour party leaflet circulated around the area.

But Coun Galloway insisted: "We have no other plans to change the catchment area for Fulford. This won't have any effect on parents in Fishergate or anywhere else for that matter."

So what is the truth of the matter? Will parents from Fishergate continue to be able to send their children to the school? And if the city council's bid for Government cash is successful and an extra 12 classrooms, two science laboratories and two craft, design and technology rooms are built, will there finally be room for all?

Janet Looker, the city council's executive committee member for education, is circumspect at first. Can she state categorically that Fishergate will not be taken out of Fulford's catchment area?

Far be it from her, she says, to make any comment about something said by one of her colleagues. The reason the council is bidding for government money, however, is precisely to address the issue of space at the school. "If we succeed in the bid, this will mean that we have secured attendance for the whole catchment area. That's what we're trying to do."

Yes, but can she give assurances about Fishergate?

"I cannot 100 per cent guarantee that the government will give us the funding.

"If the government does not give us the funding we will have to look for other money."

But Fishergate?

"Fishergate children have the right to attend at Fulford School. They will have that right this year, and next year, and the year after. There are no plans to change the admissions criteria again. I want a period of stability."

That seems a fairly clear-cut assurance, for the medium term at least. But, with the school already overcrowded, it begs the question of how places can continue to be guaranteed for all those in the school's catchment areas.

The Tories and Lib Dems' success in altering the school's admissions policy to include children from Dunnington and Elvington has made things complicated, Coun Looker admits. The situation at Fulford School is 'absolutely critical', she says, and it is not good enough simply to continue adding more and more temporary classrooms.

"We've been able to do bits and pieces to improve the school, but it has been struggling with capacity issues even without the whole Dunnington and Elvington issue," she says. "It is oversubscribed.

"We cannot go on providing more temporary classrooms. It needs a better dining hall, better sports facilities, more space. There is a lot of work that needs to be done."

Which brings us back to the council's bid for Government cash. The council expects to hear by March whether it has been successful. How confident is she of success?

The council has a good record in winning Government cash for school projects, she points out - the refurbishment of Burnholme Community College, the extensions to Burton Green and Canon Lee schools and the new library at Millthorpe are examples. "So I'm confident that the bid will win approval."

And if it doesn't? She has already mentioned that if the council doesn't get Government funding for the expansion, it would have to look elsewhere. Are there any specific sources of alternative funding in mind?

There may, she hazards, be a contribution from the Germany Beck housing development in Fulford - or proceeds from the sale of land. "But if we don't get the money, it will be back to the drawing board again. We have to concentrate on getting this bid right and putting it in, because that's what we want. That's the best way forward."

There will be plenty of parents in York hoping the council succeeds in its bid. But ultimately, of course, the best way to ensure that all our children go to the schools we want is to ensure that all the schools in the city provide a top-class education. League tables only serve to reinforce the impression that some schools perform better than others - leading to competition for places at some and spare capacity at others.

Coun Looker insists league tables are oversimplistic, and that Ofsted reports on schools provide a much better picture of what is going on. They indicate that, overall, York schools are providing a good education, she insists.

"There are some where we have cause for concern, and for these we are working with the schools and the governors to deal with these concerns. But by and large Ofsted says the quality of teaching in York schools is good."

That may be so. But as long as the impression persists that some schools are better than others, problems over admissions will continue. And even a successful bid for Government cash to expand Fulford School won't solve that in the long run.

Updated: 11:05 Tuesday, December 11, 2001