IT was with interest that I read your article (LET, June 23) on the allocation of school places and how, in the case of Pleckgate High School, Blackburn, they were arrived at.

I am amazed that the Lancashire Evening Telegraph is given the answers to questions that, as parents, we have been asking since this fiasco began. To date, we wait for answers to questions we posed during a meeting at the town hall on April 10, 1999, where a councillor and member of the education department were present.

This information now leads you to acknowledge that the claim of social engineering is perhaps invalid. Only time will tell whether this is true or not - more particularly, April 2000.

As a parent of one of the children involved, my biggest criticism of the education department is that we were treated as second-rate citizens who possessed little or no intelligence and were given the run-around by people supposedly there to serve us. We were passed from pillar to post by all, including the most senior people in the education department.

These officials assumed that, as parents, we were not informed and that neither were we aware of the various pieces of legislation which these officials were supposed to be implementing in a fair and unbiased manner.

All we asked during the course of our discussions and correspondence was to be given the facts - nothing more or less. Instead, all we received was misinformation and incorrect quotes from the DEE guidelines, for which an apology was later received. I would like to thank the Evening Telegraph for giving us a voice in this matter, all the councillors who provided their personal support and all the parents who stood together to see this issue through.

For all Year 6 parents who will have to make the decision in October, 1999, on where their child will attend secondary education, my advice is this: Choose your three preferences very carefully; consult, read and ask, do not listen to myths on how to complete the form. If necessary, consult with your local councillor or the education department, as your second-nearest school could be the one you are allocated, whether it was in your preference or not.

ANDREW CAIRNES, Rhodes Avenue, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.