PARENTS living in Bleadon have welcomed a proposal to link first, middle and secondary schools in Somerset to give pupils a greater chance of staying

PARENTS living in Bleadon have welcomed a proposal to link first, middle and secondary schools in Somerset to give pupils a greater chance of staying with the same friends throughout their education.Mums and dads in the village have great difficulty getting their children into their preferred schools as Bleadon is on the edge of North Somerset and Somerset and doesn't have a clear catchment area.Although Bleadon is in North Somerset, many pupils from the village attend Lympsham First School, which is run by Somerset County Council, due to the competition for places in schools such as Hutton and Uphill.However, problems arise when the children move up to middle school. Bleadon is out of the catchment area for Hugh Sexey School in Blackford and some families have been forced to move out of the village to try to get their children a place.Parents packed a Bleadon Parish Council meeting to listen to Tim Pollack, school admissions manager for Somerset County Council, who is hoping to link up schools in the county to give pupils a better chance of staying together.Mr Pollack has applied to the School Admissions Forum for the schools to be linked in 2008 and is due to find out whether the bid has been approved in March.To be accepted into a school there are a number of criteria applications are rated on. These include whether a child has special needs, whether he or she lives in the catchment area, whether their siblings go to the school, and whether they attend a feeder school.Even though school links will help, parents are still worried it will be low on the list of criteria if too many people apply.