Neil Hunter has made Blatchington Mill one of the most successful secondary schools in Brighton and Hove since he became headteacher there.

However, he was unwise to agree the daughter of one of his teachers should have a place there after the girl had been allocated a place at Portslade Community College.

Brighton and Hove education officials had to take the unusual step of issuing an injunction to the governors and Mr Hunter was forced to withdraw the offer.

There are always going to be problems with pressure on popular schools and the city council is, at present, conducting its own inquiry into the system of allocating places.

In this case, the parents appealed and were told Blatchington Mill was full and there was no place for her when Mr Hunter allowed her a place.

Mr Hunter was, without doubt, acting in what he considered to be the best interest of the girl concerned to avoid her any distress.

Unfortunately, his action will have looked like favouritism towards one of his senior teachers compared with other disappointed parents.

No further action is now required but the unfortunate incident in itself will have been a salutary lesson to Mr Hunter and other heads of popular schools to tread extremely carefully when allocating places.