THE protracted wrangle over admissions arrangements to Kent’s secondary schools next year, which has delayed applications by thousands of parents, has finally been settled.

A long-awaited decision by the Schools Adjudicator, which has been examining admissions arrangements for several months, is published this weekend.

It should mean that parents who have been in the dark about the application process should now get clearer information about where they stand.

One of the key rulings is that the controversial policy of conditionality – giving greater priority to children who do not sit the 11-plus – will have to end.

The policy has been adopted by 15 secondary schools, including the county’s six Catholic schools and a number of foundation schools.

Kent County Council had objected to the policy and in addition had challenged different aspects of admissions arrangements at 46 schools.

The ending of conditionality will be welcomed by KCC, which had complained it blackmailed parents into not taking the 11-plus.

However, the adjudicator has not upheld another key objection made by KCC against those foundation and voluntary aided schools which set their own admissions criteria.

The ruling says they will continue to be allowed to use parents’ rank order when they apply their over-subscription criteria.

The main impact of this is that popular non-selective high schools are likely to fill up on “first preference” applications. KCC had wanted an equal preference scheme for all its schools.

It also remains uncertain how grammar schools will allocate any surplus places they may have. Under an admissions scheme imposed by Education Secretary Charles Clarke, parents will not be able to change their minds if they have been offered a place at their first-preference school.

KCC will itself be prohibited from adding the child’s name to a waiting list even if that is what parents want. The only route they would have is to go through the statutory appeals process.

In a joint statement the adjudicators said: “This has been a lengthy process and we are pleased that we have now been able to reach our conclusions.

"We hope that the determinations issued today will, with goodwill on all sides, enable admissions in Kent to be administered smoothly in the best interests of allschools, parents and, especially, the children involved."