Secondary headteachers have closed ranks following Labour proposals to expand so-called 'popular' schools only.

Some of the borough's most successful schools have spoken up for their struggling counterparts in a letter to the Hendon Times Group.

Labelling schools 'popular' or 'unpopular' only serves to heighten damaging educational divisions across the borough, they warn.

And branding a school unpopular can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to parents removing their children and shunning it.

While these new Labour proposals are bound to be a vote-winner ,, dissatisfied parents have long-called for more places ,, the way the council has announced them leaves a lot be desired.

That said, rubbishing certain schools is not a sensible way to run a local education authority. Everyone knows one or two school have problems, why not help them solve them instead?