DESPITE living just round the corner, little Willo St John Cox looks set to be denied a place at his closest primary school.

The two-year-old could be stopped from going to Wolvercote Primary School thanks to a proposed shake-up of catchment areas.

Mum Chris St John Cox said under the plans, Willo would not automatically get a place despite his older sister Trinity already being a pupil at the school.

Under Oxfordshire County Council proposals, 1,172 properties will be removed from Wolvercote Primary School’s catchment area because it cannot cater for the number of children who want to go there.

Last year, 16 families in Lower Wolvercote were told their children would not get places at the school because the reception class was full.

After an outcry, the council converted the school’s special needs and music room into an extra classroom to accommodate the youngsters.

Now it wants to shrink the school’s catchment area, excluding North Oxford homes just yards from its gates.

Children from streets including Woodstock Road, Banbury Road, Blandford Avenue, Blenheim Drive, Davenant Road, Five Mile Drive and Jordan Hill Road will head to the expanding Cutteslowe Primary School, currently deemed to be inadequate by Ofsted inspectors.

Mrs St John Cox, who lives in a semi-detached house in Woodstock Road, about 200 yards from the school, saw her daughter Trinity, four, join Wolvercote’s reception class in September.

She said she lived 12 doors away from the school.

Under the council’s plans, which are open to consultation until Monday, February 28, Willo would have to go elsewhere from September 2012.

She said: “The council must allow siblings to go to the same school to keep families together.

“I know of four families which will have to take their children to two schools.

“I know the council are not doing this intentionally, but unless an exception is made, they will be destroying four families.

“I cannot see how I can be in two places at the same time.”

She said the school must expand to serve all parents in Wolvercote and North Oxford.

She added: “The school has got a fantastic reputation and it is bound to be over-subscribed.”

If the catchment area is changed, children like Willo would only be offered places if there is space after families living inside the catchment area have chosen their favourite school.

County council spokesman Louise Mendonca said: “It’s not possible to say in advance how many people living inside any revised catchment area would apply for a place and therefore whether there would be places for children outside the catchment area.”

A feasibility study examining whether the school can expand will be presented to governors later this month.

Headteacher Anna Ballance said: “The school site looks very big, but it is not.

“We have a big field, but there are obviously planning restrictions on building on that, and it is an important part of the school.”

She said governors were divided whether the school should grow, but “all possible options” were being examined.

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