No school place for boy - by 20cm (From Sutton Guardian)

No Sutton school place for boy - by 20cm

12:15pm Friday 25th May 2012 in News By Matt Watts

Brock Housden, 3, has been denied a school place because he lives 20cm too far from his nearest primary school.

A three-year-old has been denied a school place because he lives 20cm too far from his nearest primary school.

Brock Housden, who is due to start school in September, had hoped to go to Bandon Hill Primary, the nearest school to his home in Wallington.

But his family home in Clyde Road lies 433.25m from their preferred school, and the school’s catchment area this year ended at 433.05m.

Brock is now without a school place after missing out on all four of his other choices, again because he was outside of the catchment area.

The three-year-old is another victim of Sutton’s primary school place crisis, as increasing numbers of children apply to go to the borough’s schools.

His father Jonathan, 43, said: “One of the reasons we moved to this area six years ago was the quality of the primary school.

“We were well within the catchment area then, but now we have missed out by a handspan.”

The family are appealing the council’s decision.

By their calculations on Google Maps they are a closer to the school than the council has stated.

Mr Housden said: “We understand there has to be a cut-off point but we want to be certain the distance has been calculated correctly.”

He said the family would consider home schooling or moving from the borough if their appeal was unsuccessful.

The council would then offer a school place that could be on the other side of the borough.

Sutton, with one of the highest birth rates in London, has seen a dramatic increase in the number of families applying for primary school places in recent years.

It has meant rapid expansion of schools, with five more due to expand before next September.

In October 2011, 13,927 pupils attended primary school with the figure expected to rise to 15,906 by September 2014.

A spokesman said: “We fully understand how frustrating this is from a parent’s perspective.

“But Bandon Hill has an admission of 60 children and we are unable to exceed this due to the limits placed upon us within infant class size legislation.”