CHURCH secondary schools in York have welcomed a crackdown on parents pretending to be Christians to get their children a place.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has pledged to introduce new national guidelines for church schools on admissions, to make the criteria more transparent and fair for parents.

Historically church schools have strong academic records, meaning they are often oversubscribed.

In York, both Manor School and Archbishop Holgate's, are oversubscribed. Manor's head teacher, Brian Crosby, today backed the new measures.

Church school admissions policies have often been criticised for being confusing, and favouring parents from middle-class backgrounds.

One option being considered by the church is to ask for proof of baptism, and another is that children are baptised and their local clergyman provides a reference.

Mark Ellis, of City of York Council's education team, said this year York's two Anglican secondary schools Manor and Archbishop Holgate's were the only secondary schools in the city which were oversubscribed, with 69 applications being turned down at Manor.

Mr Crosby said 60 per cent of the places at Manor were "foundation" places allocated to parents who were members of local churches. That did not mean they have to be Anglican - they could be Catholic, Baptist, Methodist or any other mainstream Christian denomination. This year the school had 90 applications for 70 foundation places.

Each application has to be supported by a reference from a clergyman, telling the school how long and how frequently the parents have attended church, and parents must have been regular churchgoers - going at least once a fortnight - for two years before they apply.

Mr Crosby said every year there were the odd one or two applications lodged by people trying to flout the system.

These have included giving a "dummy" address, and trying to use grandparents instead of parents who go to church.

"These people are the minority, and fall at the first hurdle," said Mr Crosby.

"It's extremely important to us and the parents who don't get a place to know that others aren't jumping the queue." Ann Lees, director of education for the Diocese of York, said: "The distinctiveness of a church school is built on the way it is run - not on its admission policy. Places at Church of England secondary schools in York are available to members of the local community of all faiths, and of none, as well as to those whose families are practising Christians.

"Where parents want their children to attend a church school on the basis of their faith, we always try to establish that their commitment to that faith is serious and long-standing, and this is one of the ways we ensure that the school is open to children of all social and economic backgrounds."

Updated: 10:10 Wednesday, March 15, 2006