No place for Ellie at school 100 yards from home

Chloe Turner put her daughter Ellie’s name down for a place at Woodhouse Primary School, Brighouse, when she was just three months old.

And the family even moved closer to the school in the hope it would secure a place for their children in the future.

But despite the school being so close they can hear the children playing, Calderdale Council allocated Ellie a place at a school a 20 minute walk away, which she had not even marked down as a choice. This week the family found out they had been unsuccessful in the first round of the appeal process, and now will have to wait until August to go before an appeal panel.

Miss Turner, 21, said: “Not only is it the closest school to our house, but it’s a very, very good school - I’m so frustrated by it all.” The mum of two said she would “keep fighting” for a place, “because it’s ridiculous she can’t go to this school when it’s so close to our house.”

Judith Wyllie, Calderdale Council’s head of commissioning and partnerships, said the council made “every effort” to offer parents a place for their child at their preferred school, but is not always possible where schools are popular and oversubscribed.