THE decision to delete the “cross-sibling rule” used by Watford’s single-sex grammar schools has left parents feeling “angry and upset”.

Following objections from 21 sets of parents to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator, a rule that said brothers of pupils at Watford Grammar School for Girls were guaranteed a place at the boys’ school was found to go against the Schools Admission Code.

The same was said for the rule that gave sisters of pupils at Watford Grammar School for Boys an automatic place at the girls’ school.

The rule change affects pupils currently applying for secondary school places in September 2009, and has infuriated parents who have children already in the system, who believed their younger children would follow their siblings to the grammar schools.

In examining objections against the cross-sibling rule, in order to free more places for other children, the schools adjudicator was not swayed that the schools work “as one”, despite evidence of sharing sixth form provision, extra curricular activities, a joint admissions committee and a single foundation.

Dr Elizabeth Passmore said: “I am not persuaded by the school’s arguments that the schools work and act so closely together that for admissions the two schools should be regarded as one.”

However, parents believe the code has been misinterpreted, and the cross-sibling rule should be fased out, so to protect parents already in the system.

In 2006, a meeting between Watford parents and Schools Minister Jim Knight led to assurances the sibling rule at partial selection schools would not be removed, though the cross-sibling rule was not mentioned specifically.

Sue Carpenter, 46, has a 12-year-old son at Watford Boys, and a ten-year-old daughter in Year 6 who expected to attend Watford Girls’, in Lady’s Close, next autumn.

She said: “We’ve lost the protection that was promised to us. We feel it’s poorly defined language that has meant the adjudicator could make a decision against what Jim Knight promised us.

“Claire Ward (the Watford MP) has been very supportive. We’re just waiting to hear back about what can be done.”

Alison Dawkins, 47, from Hagden Lane, Watford, is angry and upset her youngest daughter, currently in Year 5, could now miss out on a place at Watford Girls, having seen her three eldest children, two sons and another daughter, all attend the grammar schools.

The Chater Junior School teacher said: “The decision has left me feeling very angry and very upset. These are local families who should be helped. A transitional arrangement would have been the way to go.

“At the time I applied for my son in Year 7, the rule was there. The way it has been interpreted by the adjudicator has moved the goalposts in the middle of the game, which just seems terribly unfair.”

Another mother, who has a 12-year-old daughter at Watford Girls’ and a ten-year-old son, said: “It’s like the goalposts have moved at the very last second. It just seems unfair. If we’d gone for other selective schools, siblings would have got a place.”

Martin Post, headteacher at Watford Boys’, in Rickmansworth Road, said the situation was “tremendously unfair”.

He said: “We’ve taken all the legal advice we can and the advice is it’s very unlikely we’d even get permission to go to a Judicial Review, never mind pursue it successfully.

“We want to look after the families and the children that use the schools. We will look at what we can do to review the status of the schools.

“This is a unique situation. We’re in unchartered waters but we’re not going to let this drop because it’s too important.”