EDUCATION these days, many teachers argue, is bound up with red tape. And sometimes common sense, too, seems to be get tied up by rules and legislation.

Often that can seem to be the case with school admissions policies.

If someone like Sophie Krailing lives next door to a school at which her elder daughter is already a pupil, common sense suggests her four-year-old, Ella, would get a place there too.

Not so. Because her mum, it is reported, failed to enclose Ella’s baptism certificate as required by the church primary school, Ella now faces going to a school two miles away.

Getting your child to the school you want throws up all sorts of logistical and other difficulties for parents disappointed by the placements.

But Sophie Krailing’s situation in having her hopes dashed by the church school next door does seem hard to fathom.

Rules are rules and all sins can be forgiven, it seems... apart from failing to put a baptism form in with your daughter’s application.