I, too, am writing from Chilton village, where dozens of primary school aged children living within the catchment area have been unsuccessful in gaining school places at their local school over the last few years.

Sadly our six-year-old daughter was unable to start school with her little brother two years ago, as all of the places within her year group at Chilton primary had already been allocated.

Many discussions have taken place between affected parents, the headteacher, admissions teams, the local MP and councillor to discuss emergency planning for the growing village population. However, it was made clear to us that the oversubscription was a temporary problem which would sort itself out within a few years.

And clearly it hasn’t.

Sadly even more families are now being forced to face the stressful situation of what to do now that their child has not been “lucky” enough to gain a local school place.

Our daughter is attending a school over four miles away, which has cost us dearly in time (especially with the recurrent and prolonged road closures of Hagbourne Hill), money and almost our lives when we were involved in a serious collision whilst on the school run, which resulted in our car being written off and our son requiring emergency treatment.

I have had to take periods of unpaid leave and reduce my working hours to try to get two children to different schools at the same time. The separate afterschool care arrangements are another huge headache. This has had a very detrimental effect on our family finances. In addition we have had to take double the amount of leave to attend two Christmas Nativities, sports days, parent-teacher meetings etc.

But of course, the saddest thing of all, is trying to explain on a regular basis to our daughter why she cannot attend the same school as her brother.

We are tired of hearing pathetic excuses as to why the school cannot accommodate its local population. Swift action is desperately needed to save even more families and children from facing this unnecessary stress.

HAYLEY KINCH
Horsa Lane
Chilton