SIX children have been rejected for places at a Rhyl primary school because of a mix-up over entry forms.
An appeals panel has upheld Denbighshire County Council’s decision to turn away youngsters from Christchurch after admission forms were wrongly handed in after the October 31, 2011, deadline.
But furious parents say they were unaware that there had been a change to the system they had previously followed of handing forms back to the school.
Joanna Sumner, of Knowsley Avenue, Rhyl, who already has two children in the school, said she is disgusted that her son Wesley, aged four, will miss out on a place and insists she had no idea of any deadline.
“I just handed the form back into the school like I did with my other children – and I thought they would just automatically deal with it like they have in the past,” she said.
“I didn’t know of the change and no one informed me of any deadline.”
Denbighshire County Council has said that the application forms and letter to parents clearly states the forms need to be returned to the School Admissions department in County Hall, Ruthin, and the deadline is also made clear in the School Admissions Booklet, plus on council's website.
Another parent affected, Mary Anne Oney, of Arfon Grove, has had four children go through the school, and her daughter, Emily, aged four, has been in the Christchurch nursery for 18 months, also said she was not informed of a deadline.
“I handed in a form for Emily and a form for my sister’s child – my sister’s child got a place, and Emily didn’t. So how can they say it is because the form went in too late.”
Six parents attended a meeting at Russell House last week and were told the decision would not be overturned.
This means the children will be offered places at other schools in Rhyl, although they will be put on a waiting list for Christchurch should places become available before September.
A spokeswoman for Denbighshire County Council, said: “We understand the parents' frustration but unfortunately we have had a much larger cohort of reception class pupils in Rhyl this year than in recent years.
“We had 75 applications for 60 places at Christchurch and in order to keep to recommended staffing ratios of 30 pupils per teacher, we had to refuse some applications that were submitted after the deadline had passed.
“An independent appeal panel has looked at the case of all families involved and has found in the council's favour.”