Battle for primary places: a mum's story (From Oxford Mail)

Battle for primary places: a mum's story

6:40am Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Dr Elizabeth Kirby, of Home Close, Wolvercote, lives less than a mile from Wolvercote Primary School. But the mother-of-two, pictured with her daughter Katrina, four, was forced to send her to a school in Kidlington more than three miles away.

Four other schools closer to Dr Kirby’s home where the council tried to place Katrina were all full — Cutteslowe, St Aloysius, SS Philip and James and St Barnabas Primary Schools.

Katrina now attends Edward Feild Primary School in Kidlington. Dr Kirby, a legal adviser at Reading University, said: “We were completely stunned — every child on our street goes to Wolvercote primary.

“Katrina grew up expecting to go to Wolvercote because we’d been to events at the school in the past.

“She was familiar with the school. The situation could be a nightmare for families moving to Oxford.

“Our chances of getting Katrina to school in Wolvercote next year are actually decreasing at the moment too. We were second on the list but because two people have moved in with four-year-olds closer to the school, we are now fourth on the list.”

Dr Kirby ,who also has a son, Bruno, one, said: “We have to drive past Wolvercote to take Katrina to school. It’s quite maddening.

“You haven’t really got a choice of where your child goes to school unless you live on its doorstep.“

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