EDUCATION minister Jim Knight will consider making south west Hertfordshire exempt from plans to scrap the school admissions sibling rule.

The announcement came after Watford MP Claire Ward and more than 70 parents and teachers from four local schools met the minister on Wednesday.

The four schools - Watford Grammar School for Boys, Parmiter's, Rickmansworth and St Clement Danes - are among only 40 state comprehensives in the country allowed to select some pupils by ability.

Normally, the proportion is 35 per cent selected by academic ability and ten per cent for musical aptitude, although St Clement Danes in Chorleywood has a lower agreed proportion.

Currently, younger sisters and brothers of existing pupils are given priority, regardless of ability, to also win places at the popular schools, but the Government wants to end this.

Critics argue that giving siblings priority effectively allows these schools to increase their proportion of more gifted pupils well over the agreed level, to the detriment of other local children.

But Ms Ward has received hundreds of letters from parents concerned about the proposal.

She said: "There are only 40 partially selective schools in the country that would be affected by these changes and 20 per cent of them are in Hertfordshire, mostly around Watford. Our unique situation means the Government needs to take into account that any change would have a far greater effect upon Watford than any other area."

Mr Knight said he had to balance the views of the parents and teachers at the meeting with the interests of all children in the area. The Government will have to move fast if it is to rethink its plans, as the proposed legislation will be before Parliament in January and could soon be law. But Mr Knight stressed it will not come into effect until September 2008