A CATHOLIC school headteacher has hit out over Government plans to change the way children are admitted to high schools.

Under the new rules parents will not be allowed to apply directly to a non-county run school for a place for their child.

Instead, parents will have to submit an application directly to County Hall education chiefs who will decide which school their child attends.

But the new procedures have raised concern from headteachers at some religious schools who fear an influx of children outside the faith could put their school ethos at risk.

Trevor Day, head of Leyland St Mary's Roman Catholic Technology College, Royal Avenue, Leyland, said: "We have a ten per cent restriction on the number of non-Catholic pupils we accept.

"There are less children coming up through the primary schools at the moment which may mean we have more spaces and could be forced to take in more non-Catholics.

"And this could have a detrimental effect because if we lost the Catholic ethos then their sense of belonging disappears.

"We have between three per cent and eight per cent of non-Catholic children in our classes at the moment and they integrate very well because their parents want them to be brought up in a Christian environment.

"I am concerned some parents prioritise the convenience of a school rather than the environment the children will be brought up in.

"But it's important the ethos of the school remains and I hope it will."

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "The purpose of the co-ordinated scheme is to ensure greater transparency and ensure equity for parents when expressing preferences.

"While the proposed scheme will result in a reduction in the number of school applications for those parents who can currently express more than one "first preference", the system is designed to be fairer to all."