School admissions should be judged on fair, clear and objective criteria that would stand up to independent scrutiny, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) says.

Admissions should not be judged on subjective responses to questionnaires, where responses cannot be impartially assessed, as was the case in a complaint the LGO received about a Slough primary school.

A grandfather told the LGO Khalsa VA Primary School in the town did not properly consider medical evidence put forward by his daughter during an appeal hearing for his grandson.

The investigation found the appeal panel was not at fault on this, but during the course of the investigation the LGO became concerned about the way the school used a religious questionnaire to determine the allocation of places.

The admission arrangements made it clear the applicant’s commitment to the Sikh faith was used to rank places. Applicants had to submit a supplementary questionnaire in addition to the common form. The school’s Trust then marked each questionnaire and awarded a score. Those with a higher score were given a higher priority for a place.