WHEN it comes to allocating places at secondary schools, you can't please all of the people all of the time, especially when some schools are heavily oversubscribed.

Rough justice is one thing, but a system that produces totally loopy results clearly needs to be rethought.

Nothing can justify the situation in which Kirstie Williams, of Eastwood, finds herself.

The 11-year-old lives just 328 yards from the secondary school of her choice, Eastwood School.

Yet there is no place for her.

Instead she is expected to find her way to Westcliff.

Quite apart from the distance, she will be cruelly isolated from her primary school friends.

While there is inevitably a lottery element to the allocation system, it should make allowances for young people in Kirstie's situation.

The message from the authorities is "tough luck".

The education system should not be in the business of creating innocent victims, children whose secondary education is undermined before it has even begun.