Lincolnshire academies accused of discrimination

Steve Williams, chairman of the council’s children and young people scrutiny committee, said the authority had received anecdotal evidence of such practices.

Allegations made to the council include a claim that parents attending academy open evenings have been told they might be better off applying to a different school, after disclosing that their child had SEN.

As a result, the committee has decided to carry out a review of admissions policies and exclusions across all local schools, with a particular focus on how children with SEN are supported, to establish the extent of any problem.

"We have no firm evidence of discrimination against schools but due to anecdotal evidence we need to see what the situation is across schools in the county," Williams said.

"The review will enable us to get a clear picture of admissions and exclusions in the county and identify any problem areas that need addressing."

He added that a review is timely, given the increasing number of academies in the local area and the new school admissions code, which comes into force in February.

Parents are being asked to come forward and give evidence to the review, which is expected to run from March until October.

Last year Lincolnshire County Council took the unprecedented step of urging all schools in its area to convert to academy status under a single trust in a bid to protect its smallest primaries from closure.

There are currently 40 academies in the area, the majority of which are secondary schools, as well as 28 secondary, 264 primary and 21 special schools still maintained by the local authority.