EDUCATION bosses last night said they were reviewing how school places were allocated, following complaints from parents.

Last week, we reported how the proportion of children winning a place at their first-choice school had fallen.

Oxfordshire County Council said 87.6 per cent of children got their number one choice primary school, down from 89.6 per cent last year.

And 88.5 per cent of youngsters received a place at their preferred secondary school, a drop of one percentage point.

About 1,500 pupils are estimated not to have got their first choice at either primary or secondary school.

Parents have called for a review of the system that allocates school places. The council has pointed to an increase of almost 300 children on last year.

In Banbury, 19 children will have to go to Bicester Community College – a round trip of more than 30 miles – because of a shortage of spaces in the town.

Paul Donnelly, 34, wanted stepdaughter Lauren Dumbleton, 11, to follow her brother and sister to North Oxfordshire Academy.

He said: “It is crazy. What is it coming to when my daughter can’t go to school up the road?

“Someone is not doing their job properly if there is not enough spaces for children in Banbury.”

The county council said a problem in the town had been caused by parents only picking a top-choice school and no alternatives.

Last night, a council spokesman could not say how many youngsters had been forced to go to school outside the town because of pressure on spaces.

Gisele Ajavon, whose son Hayden Colombo, 11, has also been allocated Bicester, said: “I have tried to talk to my son about the positive sides that he won’t have to walk to school.”

Banbury county councillor Kieron Mallon said: “This year pupils have fallen foul of the system.”

Meanwhile, villagers are signing a petition in a North Oxford store calling for local youngsters to be given places at the nearby primary school. Sixteen families in Wolvercote have been told there is no room for their children at Wolvercote Primary School, in First Turn.

Carl Keeble, 42, who runs the shop in Godstow Road with his wife Katie, 43, are not able top send their three-year-old son William there.

He said: “The petition is being very well supported because people living here are gobsmacked that children from the village can’t get into their local school.”

Michael Waine, county council cabinet member for schools, said: “The natural consequence of such a system is that popular, high-achieving schools attract a tick in the box for first preference and such schools, like Wolvercote, become over-subscribed.

“In addition to this, the nature of the school and its site means it is very difficult to create extra accommodation here.

“We are sympathetic as we realise there is a unique problem here and we have been working on re-shaping the admissions criteria for Wolvercote School from September 2011.

“I am working very hard with officers to try to resolve the situation for this year.”

County council spokesman Louise Mendonca added: “We are always reviewing the situation as circumstances can change. An example of this is the extra places created across North Oxford ready for 2010 admissions.”

Elsewhere, 30 pupils were unable to get into the reception year at St Francis Primary School in Horspath Road, Cowley, although only one of them was from the school’s catchment area.

Have you been affected by the pressure on school places? Call the newsdesk on 01865 425500.