FURTHER consultation is needed with parents and schools in Dorset if the catchment area involving schools in Christchurch is to change.

Christchurch parents want priority in choosing which of the town's secondary schools they send their children to, although at present hundreds of pupils from outside the borough are attending Highcliffe and Twynham schools.

However Bournemouth Council's Education Scrutiny panel, which is caught in the middle of the dispute over Christchurch's catchment area, decided that it wants more time for consultation with parents and schools in the area.

Dorset County Council will decide in December whether to accept changes to the current catchment area, which would give Christchurch parents preference for places from September 2006.

Highcliffe and Twynham secondary schools, which under current arrangements include families from Hampshire, are often oversubscribed, but Christchurch parents argue that they should not be overlooked in favour of families from outside Christchurch and Dorset.

The review panel will recommend to Dorset County Council that more consultation is needed with schools, parents and education chiefs in Hampshire and Dorset before a decision is made on boundary decisions.

Its members heard that a consultation review had recommended six options, including a "pooled" catchment area covering Christchurch and Highcliffe only.

This would end the "sharing" arrangements between Highcliffe and Twynham Schools with Hampshire secondary schools.

However, chairman Stephen Chappell said he had reservations about this arrangement as well as the final option of enlarging the catchment area of Twynham School to incorporate Southbourne.

The panel will be writing to Dorset County Council, suggesting that September 2006 would be too soon to implement the changes suggested in the review without further consideration of the implications involved.

First published: October 30