A religious school in Croydon has been ordered to change its admission policy after an adjudicator described it as ‘not acceptable’.

St James the Great Primary School in Thornton Heath was found by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator to admit children who lived outside the catchment area, or were secretly interviewed by the school.

The 483-pupil school for children aged three to 11, admits boys and girls who primarily worship in St Bartholomew’s Church Norbury or St Andrews Church in Croydon.

Other selection criteria for the school – rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted - includes having a parent who is a catholic, a sibling already attending, being baptised and then straight line distance from the school.

Couple William and Ingrid Pires brought the matter to the adjudicator’s attention after their son failed to gain admission in September 2016, although they say they met the criteria as worshippers at St Bartholomew’s for 17 years.

After contacting the Education Funding Agency, their appeal showed that the school, admission policy was had matters “which do not conform with the requirements relating to admission arrangements.”

Mrs Pires, from Norbury said: “For us at this moment we have been living with this for a year. The injustice that was done the school said that we didn’t get in based on distance, which we would have accepted if we didn’t know people that got into the school that was in a lower category than us.

She added: “Croydon hasn’t be able to offer us a faith school at all, so now our son is going to a Catholic school in Vauxhall. I have had to quit my job, every day we are commuting to Vauxhall which is horrible for genuine people like us that have lost out.”

A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “The council welcomes the findings of the adjudicator and we are satisfied the school’s admissions policy will now be clearer for parents to understand”

Current head teacher, Mr Chris Andrew said: “The school does not comment on individual cases, but has reviewed the parts of the Admissions Policy as required by the National Adjudicator and can confirm that this has been agreed by Croydon Council and the Education Commission of Archdiocese of Southwark. This new admission policy is fully compliant with the Admissions Code and is being used for this coming set of admissions for the Reception class in 2017.”