A LEWISHAM school is the most oversubscribed in the country but the council insists there is no overall shortage of school places.

Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College, in Pepys Road, New Cross, has 2,000 children chasing 200 places.

Candidates for the Government-funded technical college take a two-hour entrance exam and pupils have to write a paragraph on why they have the motivation to succeed.

But once over the exam hurdle, youngsters from Lewisham are not prioritised by the selection procedure leaving hundreds of local parents and children angry and disappointed.

In March 2002 Lewisham parents set up Local Education Action for Parents (LEAP) in a bid to highlight the issue of students not getting their first choice of school in Lewisham.

LEAP chairman Louise Irvine, whose own child was denied a place at Haberdashers' Aske's, said: "What we should be doing is moving to a situation where the school doesn't choose the pupil but the pupil has the right to a place in a local school."

Lewisham Council insists there will be no shortage of secondary school places in September. A spokesman said: "Lewisham has always had enough places for pupils who apply in fact we have spare places in September every year. We currently have 378 children who have not yet accepted an offer of a place but we have more than 400 places available."

Lewisham Council is building a new secondary school in Ladywell Road, Ladywell, to accommodate 600 pupils to be completed in 2006.

Haberdashers' Aske's is an independent school which sets its own admission policy and is funded directly from central Government rather than the Local Education Authority.

April 29, 2003 10:30