Q: We have been charged £10 for an entrance "assessment" for our child to a local secondary school. We have now been offered a place but must pay £50 non refundable deposit to accept the place. I thought we had free education. Do we have to pay this? - South of Ireland parent.

A: "Free" education has indeed become somewhat of a joke. Technically, under the regulations, no secondary school in the free education scheme - that is about 90 per cent of such schools - can charge fees. In practice most of them operate a "voluntary contribution" as they maintain that the grant from the Department of Education is inadequate for their needs.

The Minister does nothing as long as the contribution is "voluntary", in other words the school cannot force a family to pay nor can they make payment of a contribution a condition of getting a place in the school.

In practice most schools have an informal system whereby parents who would have difficulty making the payment are excused or pay a lower amount. Families with more than one child at the school also usually get discounts. The problem, of course, is that it can be embarrassing for parents to have to approach the school and explain their financial situation. Similarly, those who feel that they do not want to "volunteer on principle are worried that this might in some way work to the disadvantage of their child during her school career.

So, technically, your local "free" school is not allowed to make a place for your child conditional on payment of £50. You can write to the Minister for Education and complain officially about this.

From your comments I understand that other free schools in the area are not charging a deposit, so I think it would be important for you to complain - if you don't the habit could spread! I know you are concerned that making a complaint could reverberate against your child. That need not be a problem, you can write to the Minister naming the school and giving the details and asking that your identity be kept confidential. This would be respected as your complaint has nothing to do with your daughter's behaviour but with a breach of regulations by the school, the Minister can act without any reference to you whatsoever.

Neither is it acceptable under the regulations governing the free education scheme that students be charged for an entrance exam.

I understand why the school is doing what it does; it is afraid that parents will accept places in a number of schools as an insurance policy and it wants to tie you down now by concentrating your mind through the £50 charge.

I sympathise with the dilemma of schools caught in this situation, but charging what is effectively a fee which will keep less well off kids out of the school is not the way to resolve it.

Q: Please tell me if you think the following is right. As it appears to be the bright students who are opting for the Transition Year, isn't it likely that the average Leaving Cert scores this year will be lower as well as the numbers being smaller and thus college points will fall? - Dublin 15 Leaving Cert student.

A: A bit of wishful thinking will do you no harm, I suppose, but it would be downright dangerous to be complacent about what you need in this year's Leaving on the basis of such analysis.

It is not my experience at all that it is necessarily the brighter students who stay on and do Transition Year. In quite a number of schools, for a start, everyone does it. There are other schools where they encourage the young students to do it, with the older ones going directly on to the Leaving Cert cycle. In other schools, again, it is the weaker students who are recommended for Transition Year on the grounds that they need more time and will gain in terms of basic skills.

Some bright students skip Transition Year, for example, because they want to go for medicine or other high points course and they feel they may need to repeat the Leaving Cert. Other bright students opt for Transition Year because they feel its maturing effects will give them a better chance when they come to sit the Leaving.

There are roughly 7,000 fewer students sitting the Leaving this year than last year. I don't really expect this to have any sizeable effect on points, particularly on points for the most competitive courses.

I strongly doubt if there will be much change in courses such as medicine, pharmacy etc; there are still plenty of very bright students there who will keep those points high.

There are only 50 places available in pharmacy - 75 if Trinity's new facilities are advanced enough. With 57,000 students sitting the Leaving Cert as against 64,000 last year, it does, not take a mathematical genius to see that the likelihood of 50 applicants to pharmacy scoring 560 points is just as high as last year.

Q: We applied for a place for our son in our local secondary school. He has now been summoned to sit an entrance test. I had thought that the Minister for Education has ordered that such entrance tests should be abolished. Is this the case and if so what can we do? - south Dublin parent.

A: Your recollection is correct. The Minister has indeed told schools in receipt of State funding that they cannot select students on the basis of ability and that an exam or entrance test cannot be used as the basis for selection.

According to the Minister for Education this applies to both free and fee charging schools. The procedure is that the Department will act if it receives a complaint. In other words there is not a team of departmental spies wandering around out there trying to find schools which select on ability; it is up parents or indeed the feeder national schools to complain to the Department. The Department will then - definitely - investigate the complaint.

Many schools will claim - that their entrance tests are not part of the selection procedure, but are used to assess the pupils' ability and group them according to ability, ie. "stream" or "set" them. If places are not actually allocated according to performance in the tests, they are not strictly speaking against the regulations; in that case you do not have grounds for an official complaint.

Many schools operate such assessment tests and if they are mandatory and schools are charging a fee for them (in the case of free schools) then they are against the spirit of the Minister's regulations as this involves. In such a case securing a place would be dependent on the £10 charge and this would be putting a financial obstacle in the way of admission.

Many national teachers object strongly even to the assessment tests. It disrupts their teaching of the primary school curriculum in sixth class and means that they have to divert from it into preparing pupils for these tests - in many cases for tests for several different schools; and even though securing a place many not be dependent on the test, this does not reduce the stress involved in sitting the tests. There is also the psychological point that as far as the pupils are concerned, whether the tests are for selection or assessment, the stress is likely to be the same.

Q: My daughter applied for a place in the NCAD. Her portfolio has now been assessed and she has been turned down. Is it too late to apply elsewhere? - Dublin mother.

A: Unfortunately it is; the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is outside the CAO system, so students applying to it can sometimes remain unaware of the opportunities available in art/design within the CAO colleges.

But as portfolio assessment is involved, no art/design course can take applications after the main closing date of February 1st. There are some excellent courses within the CAO system - the DIT, Dun Laoghaire College of Art and various RTCs; but I'm afraid your daughter will have to wait to make an application to these until next year.