AN 11-year-old lad is being forced to spend his days with a childminder and four-year-old kids as the council couldn’t find him a secondary school place.
Oscar Kennaugh’s parents say they are at their wits’ end as their son has still not secured a school more than four weeks into the new academic year.
Helen and Paul, from Glenfield, Leics, applied to three schools last October and were shocked when they were told they were all “full”.
There are no places left at any schools in their catchment area and both parents work, meaning they are unable to drive him to one further afield each day.
Helen, 43, told LeicestershireLive: “On March 1 when we looked to see where he was going he just didn’t get offered anything.
“So over the past seven months since then we’ve had lots of conversations with the county council but they said the number of kids outnumbered places this year and so there were these problems.
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“I know of at least three other children in the village who didn’t get offered a place, either.”
Helen says their only option is to put him on a bus into Leicester each morning to get a service going out to Coalville, Hinckley or Kibworth.
For now, Oscar has to stay with a babysitter – leaving him upset.
Helen added: “He’s not coping well and the other day he was in tears.
“All his primary school friends are off at new schools making new friends and he’s at the childminder’s every day with a group of four-year-olds.”
In desperation, Oscar’s parents have contacted Leicester City Council, their local councillors and their MP.
A spokesman for Leicestershire City Council said there is a limit to how much they can help as school places are not decided by local education authorities anymore.
They are instead dished out by Leicestershire County Council.
She said: “While we can’t comment on individual cases, we’re very aware of Oscar’s situation.
“Our guidance encourages parents to include their catchment area school as one of their three preferences.
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“When it’s the case that parents choose to apply to three out-of-catchment schools, and are ultimately unsuccessful with all of their applications, they are required to re-submit their application.
“By this point, many schools will be full following the first round of applications so we’ll then share information on schools which do have places. We don’t have the power to over-fill places at academies.”
