Sir, – With regards the ongoing debate concerning Weydon School's admission policy we feel that there are some key points which seem to have been overlooked.

While we fully sympathise with those living in the outlying villages such as Churt and Frensham and can understand the frustrations they must feel, rightly or wrongly the problems that the contributors (see Herald letters page March 20) are faced with is a recognised consequence of their personal choice to move to a rural location.

When we moved to Farnham nine years ago, the catchment area for the local schools (infant through to secondary) was one of our main criteria. Unfortunately, as these historical catchment boundaries are, and continue to be, reflected in the current market value of South Farnham properties, we accepted that this would limit us to a smaller house within the existing Weydon boundary but excluded under new proposals, and this was a choice that we were willing to make. The assumption that South Farnham residents are more affluent, have the ability or indeed a preference to finance private education, is one which is sadly misguided.

Unless neighbouring schools work together to agree a collaborative local admissions policy, the proximity to other Farnham schools (such as Heath End and All Hallows) is effectively irrelevant, as the majority of pupils in who live in South Farnham do not satisfy their current admissions criteria, ie a lack of feeder school status and geographical proximity.

Finally our last concern is with regards to "travel to school" plans. If our son is in the future accepted to Weydon School, we would be happy for him to walk with friends or cycle as the distance is less than two miles and we consider the journey to be relatively safe through residential roads with good public footpaths and street lighting. However we would not be happy to make the same independent travel arrangements for any other Farnham secondary school that he could potentially be allocated, if indeed a space was available.

An alternative secondary school would entail significantly more risks in first allowing him to cross a bypass, then faced with a choice of either travelling along a dual carriageway or through the town at peak commuter times. Each weekday one only has to see the congestion problem approaching Heath End and All Hallows as traffic grinds to a halt from the Six Bells roundabout onwards. This would mean that for peace of mind, we would undoubtedly add to this congestion by driving him to school to ensure that he arrived safely. What we would also find astonishing is that if he was offered a place in a school out of Farnham, the council would provide a taxi there and back for him. While very generous, is this really how public money should be being spent?

Any increase in housing over the coming years will inevitably make the situation worse. It seems to us that the only way of ensuring that Weydon School is fit for purpose and to serve the population it has historically served so well, is to be pro-active and increase both its capacity and teaching staff to meet the demand.

In doing so the school would then be in a position to serve the children of South Farnham, and the neighbouring villages effectively. We are sure that in its position as a Foundation School, any funding applications to build new facilities would be looked upon favourably and a local fundraising effort would undoubtedly be well supported. This solution, while we recognise is seemingly easy to fix on paper, would reduce the need for Farnham children to travel out of the town potentially into other parts of Surrey in order to receive their education; keep friends together who in many cases have been through the education system from reception year onwards; help to reduce local pollution and congestion in the town and more importantly build a school for the future which would address the needs of its increasing local population.

Concerned parents, name and address supplied, Farnham