SIR, — Further to your article (Herts Advertiser, April 17), I am writing as a parent whose child is one of the unfortunate many not yet allocated one of three ranked schools. What particularly concerns me is the possibility that the assumptions Herts Cou

SIR, - Further to your article (Herts Advertiser, April 17), I am writing as a parent whose child is one of the unfortunate many not yet allocated one of three ranked schools.

What particularly concerns me is the possibility that the assumptions Herts County Council's allocation process is based on - i.e. that a certain percentage will not take up their allocated place because they will go to private schools - are about to be exposed this year as highly risky. If the hearsay reported in your newspaper is correct - that because of the economic downturn many people who might have sent their child to private school are not going to this year - there is going to be a real shortage of places this year. This leaves children like mine at the mercy of the miscalculations of the county council and still no school place on September 1.

County Councillor David Lloyd said to us at a meeting in Wheathampstead last year that we should judge the county not in March but on September 1 at the end of the tortuous process. I fear that on September 1 this year they may find that their process has failed them.

I shall be seeking reassurance from John Harris, the county's director of children, schools and families, that county will invest some of the revenue gained from the sale of the Education Centre in Butterfield Road, Wheathampstead - if this is indeed the case - and create extra classes for our children who are likely to find that there is no reprieve for them in the wait for a school place on the continuing interest lists.

JULIET PARRISH,

Kingfisher Close, Wheathanpstead.