Fleet children refused places at primary school

Parents in Fleet are angry after their children failed to

get a place at their popular local primary school.

Some 15 families living on the Elvetham Heath estate say

they didn’t get either their first, second or third choice school.

One family living only 550 metres from the estate’s

oversubscribed primary school say they failed to get a place.

Some parents are now considering appealing.

A spokesperson from the Fleet Area Schools Working Group

(FASWG) says county chiefs are not allowing for sufficient school places in new

housing developments.

She says Hampshire County Council is using the same model as it did for Elvetham Heath 

- two years ago – for the new Queen Elizabeth Barracks redevelopment in

Church Crookham.

“Two years post

completion it still cannot accommodate children resident on the development in

a three-form entry school.”

The FASWG was set up two years ago by 45 families from Ancells, Pondtail, Crondall

and Ewshot after they discovered their children had not got into their

catchment schools.

The group’s

focus however is secondary schools.

“However we

are aware that there is an issue with provisioning places at the local infant

and junior schools,” said FASWG chairman Gill Swinton.