St Albans parents 'devastated' to miss school places close to their homes

Families have said they are "devastated" their children cannot attend a local secondary school despite some living only 1,640ft (500m) away.

The pupil intake at Beaumont School in St Albans, Hertfordshire, will be reduced from September from 240 to 210.

The secondary school insisted the change to pupil numbers was made by the county council.

Richard Roberts, Conservative leader of the council, said the school was responsible for adjusting its intake.

Beaumont School explained in a statement that its permanent published admissions number (PAN) had been 210 pupils, across seven forms, for "several years".

In 2022 the school said it was approached by the county council to increase intake to 240 pupils in eight forms to "accommodate a demographic bulge in the local area".

The school added it had made it clear to the council it was willing to increase the PAN to 240 on a permanent basis.

Beaumont School claimed it offered the council a "substantial" financial contribution to build new facilities to permanently accommodate for eight forms, but said the offer was rejected.

Mr Roberts said the school had not applied to the regional commissioner which would determine the schools intake amount.

He said 400 pupils had put Beaumont as their first choice and "parents flock to try and get into the school" which was rated as outstanding by Ofsted inspectors in 2014.

The Conservative leader added: "The actual number of places available at the school would have been known before parents were applying for spaces in September."

Joey Kwong applied and failed to secure a place for her son, Brayden, at Beaumont School despite living about 500 metres away.

The family moved to a street close to Beaumont in 2022 as they hoped to secure a space at the school.

She said: "We bought the house to go to the school, we want to work full time so we want Brayden to be able to walk to the school.

"We were devastated on Friday when we saw the result because on the whole street where we live they all have one uniform and that's Beaumont - our son will be the exception."

The family is considering moving out of the street to a smaller property to save money so Brayden can instead attend a private school.

"I hope the school and council can resolve this issue as soon as possible, as it not just affects our child but the local community in general."

Mother of twins, Aasha Shamsuddin, said her children did not get places and would instead be separated after they were allocated two different schools.

"It was a complete shock. I put the same schools down as their choices and they got none of them," she said.

The family live about 2,230ft (680m) from the school and until this year hadbeen "well in the catchment" .

Her son now faces a half-hour walk to school and her daughter will have to catch two separate busses.

She said: "It's really really difficult as a parent to navigate all the logistics and figure out how to get them there - it's been incredibly stressful, we've all been losing sleep about it.

"If we had known this was going to happen we might have made some different choices on our preferred schools."

Caroline Clapper, Hertfordshire County Council's executive member for education, said every child in St Albans had been offered a place at a school within walking distance, with enough places at good or outstanding schools, "for all the students who need one."

She said: "We continue to keep in regular contact with the school about their plans and any decisions required by the Department for Education, who ultimately make decisions on permanent expansion for academies."

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