THE headteacher of Kent’s largest secondary school has warned that up to 200 pupils could be denied a place at his school because of changes to admissions rules favouring those who opt to take the 11-plus.

Derek Adam, head of Tenterden’s Homewood School, said that had changes planned by the Government been in place this year, 180 pupils would have lost their places to make way for children who had failed the 11-plus.

Mr Adam, an outspoken critic of Kent’s selective system, said proposed changes that would allow parents to know if their child has passed the 11-plus before applying for a secondary place, would be detrimental to families who genuinely wanted a place at one of the county’s non-selective schools.

He also denounced a related proposal that would stop schools like Homewood from giving greater priority to those who made it their first preference.

In a speech to pupils to mark the opening of new school buildings, he said the Conservative leadership of Kent County was wrong to support the changes and to continue to back an antiquated selective system.

"How can it be that at the beginning of the 21st century, we live in authority controlled by politicians who think like dinosaurs? If they are successful, the effect will be that grammar schools will be stronger and protected from falling rolls. About 180 of you would not have found places at this school if the proposed changes had been in place when you applied," he said.

The changes posed a threat to poorly-performing secondary schools that would become "very much weaker and vulnerable to closure and poor performance."

It was "arrant nonsense" to suggest that a single test taken by a child when they were 11 was the way to determine that children should attend a certain type of school, he added.

Mr Adam also berated education secretary Ruth Kelly, whose department is consulting on the changes to admissions rules.

He stressed: "This will do nothing to narrow the gap between most advantaged and disadvantaged schools and I doubt Ruth Kelly has thought about the consequences in Kent of changing this policy."