State schools are still using covert forms of selection to cherry-pick high-performing middle-class pupils, the Schools Minister said yesterday.

Jim Knight has written to town halls to say that the Government will no longer tolerate schools or local authorities that flout the legally binding admissions code that was introduced last year to stamp out backdoor selection.

The code bans schools from interviewing children or parents or asking for extra information to help them weed out pupils from poorer homes who may be more difficult to teach.

Mr Knight said that he was very concerned that formal complaints and anecdotal evidence suggested a number of glaring breaches of the code.

There were examples of schools inviting parents or children for interview, not giving priority to children in care or asking about the order in which parents ranked their choice of schools – all outlawed by the code.

One school, St Philomena’s Catholic High School for Girls in Sutton, asked to see copies of parents’ marriage certificates. Hamilton Primary School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, asked parents to state the reasons for applying.

In the 11 months since the code’s introduction, Mr Knight said that the independent Office of the School Adjudicator, which regulates the admission system, had ruled on 79 cases relating to admission in September 2009.

“There is absolutely no excuse not to comply with the law to stamp out unfair and covert admission practices, which penalise low-income families and increase social segregation,” he said.

Schools in breach of the code face formal complaints procedures and investigations. They may be forced to admit pupils they have turned down even though they are already full.

Yesterday Mr Knight introduced a new mandatory admission appeal code to make it easier for parents to appeal against decisions not to admit their children.

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