GOVERNORS at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School are preparing to meet with Buckinghamshire County Council education chiefs to hammer out the controversial catchment area issue.

At a meeting of the board of governors at the West Street School on Monday, chairman Charles Elley agreed to approach Mike Appleyard, the county's cabinet member for schools, and convene a special meeting.

Former Wycombe MP and school governor Sir Ray Whitney said: "We have got to take a look at this. Not just Borlase and its governors but the LEA and central Government. Everyone knows there is a problem. We must now get on and tackle it."

Controversy was sparked this year after about 20 Marlow students who passed their 11-plus missed out on places at the oversubscribed grammar to pupils from Henley and Maidenhead with better marks and/or siblings at the school. The LEA has offered them all places at an Aylesbury grammar school.

The school's catchment area was increased to include parts of Berkshire and Oxfordshire in 1991 after falling numbers threatened its closure.

Bob Woollard, a governor and county councillor for the Marlow Rural Area, said: "I am uncomfortable with Marlow children who have passed their 11-plus being bused to Aylesbury.

"There is a problem here. What we can do about it will depend on the law and the attitude of the governing body when it next meets on July 2."