Jack Rabinowicz, chair of the Education Law Association, says appeals on secondary school entry are getting harder to win, while the Government’s class-size guarantee makes it almost impossible for parents to win appeals for infant school places. The Human Rights Act, which became law last October an includes a right to education, has made little difference to the success rate.

“The duties of the authorities are to provide schools, and so long as they provide the right number - and they may get their calculations wrong - and there is a fair system for expressing preferences, and appealing against decisions, it is unlikely that the Human Rights Act will have any impact,” says Mr Rabinowicz.