Private pupils "discriminated against by state schools" Dr Bryan Slater from the Office of the Schools Adjudicator found that the local authority, Sheffield City Council, and the respective schools had adopted an approach that "clearly intended" to discriminate against independent pupils. "I do not believe that there exist any reasonable grounds for lower priority to be afforded systematically to students who have previously attended schools outside the state-funded sector than to those who have," he said. The adjudicator said it was unlawful to give blanket priority to sixth form applicants who had attended a local community, voluntary aided, foundation, trust school or academy The School Admissions Code bans authorities from taking into account any previously attended school unless it is named as a feeder school. But by naming every local state school as a feeder school, the council's purpose was "clearly to afford lower priority for places at state-funded sixth forms to students moving from the independent sector or from other schools outside Sheffield," Dr Slater said. He said there should be "specific" grounds for selecting a feeder school, based on existing collaborations, for example, as opposed to the fact that they are simply state-funded. Fee-paying schools cannot be named as feeder schools but the adjudicator said such rules should not mean that those students should be discriminated against. Sheffield City Council was also criticised for failing to set a minimum number of places for external candidates for four of the schools and for failing to correctly publish admissions criteria. The information given to prospective sixth form students was found to be "erroneous and misleading" because it misrepresented the process. A Sheffield City Council spokesperson said: "Sheffield City Council is disappointed by the School Adjudicator's determination on Sheffield's sixth form arrangements following a complaint from Westbourne School and two parents. The determination is a complex one and it will take some time to review the implications of the Adjudicator's judgment.