THE father of a boy denied a place at his nearest school says he and other parents are being unfairly treated.

Jothi Philip, 33, who lives in the Queen Mary Gate development in High Road, South Woodford, failed to get a place at Churchfields School for his four-year-old son Rohan.

But he says the council’s refusal to take an access gate at the back of the complex into account when working out the distance between his home and Churchfields is unfair.

He unsuccessfully appealed against the decision and was told the gate is for emergency access only and cannot be considered when working out distance to the school.

He said: “The block of flats where we live shares a fence with Churchfields and the balconies of some of the flats overlook the school.

“It is very frustrating that we are not able to get admission.”

He also failed to get a place at any of his other five preferred schools and turned down a place at Ray Lodge School, because he says it is too far away.

This is not the first time parents in Queen Mary Gate, which houses an estimated 900 people, have complained about missing out on places at nearby schools.

In April Barbara Glombiowska, 31, says Redbridge turned down her application for a place at Churchfields, but were unable to find her five-year-old daughter Marta a place at any other school in the borough.

She added: “In the end because she was five and they could not find a place for her, they put her in Churchfields and her class now has 31 pupils.”

Sonia Litherland,37 is beginning the applications process for her four-year-old daughter Charlotte.

She said: "I'm really worried that we won't get into any of the schools we apply for because that has happened to so many parents here.

"We are surrounded by schools, but we are deemed to be too far away from any of them to get in.

"If I don't get any of my choices I will pay for Charlotte to be privately educated, but I can't really afford to."

Councillors initially refused developers Telford Homes permission to build Queen Mary Gate on the grounds of overdevelopment.

But the developers submitted a series of applications and received permission to begin building in 2007.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Church End, Richard Hoskins, said: “There should have been no more than 400 homes allowed on the site.

“But I also feel the formula used by the council to calculate the financial contribution Telford Homes should make to schools severely underestimated the number of children that would be living there.

“People continue to move here because they know the schools are good and in some sense that means Redbridge is a victim of its own success.

“The council are working very hard to build new schools and expand existing ones to meet the demand.”

Click here to follow the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian on Twitter

Click here to follow the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian on Facebook