One in five primary children in south west Hertfordshire have received the heartbreaking news that they failed to get a place at a school of their choice.

On Tuesday morning, official letters containing details of what school Year 6 students will start in September were delivered to thousands of anxious families across the county.

For 423 local ten and 11 year olds, however, those letters contained the devastating news they have missed out on a place at one of their three preferred schools.

They instead face the prospect of being sent to a school they did not choose and, in many cases, to one they do not want to go to.

With more than 220 students from outside the county getting places at local secondary schools this September, local politicians have already said it is time for “local schools for local children”.

One family who received the devastating news was Samantha North and her daughter Milly.

Milly, who lives in Kings Langley, applied to Watford Grammar School for Girls, Parmiter's and St Clement Danes.

However, she was given a place at Longdean – a Hemel Hempstead school she says she does not want to go to.

For her mother it is particularly heartbreaking as Milly will be the first generation of her family for nearly 100 years not to go to one of Watford's two grammar schools.

Samantha said: “This area suffers from over competitive schools and it just devastates your child when they find out they haven't got a place.

“I have seen the impact it has had on Milly and the world just fell from under her.”

Milly has already rejected her place at Longdean, and Samantha admits she is now considering the prospect of schooling her at home.

She added: “You feel like you have let your child down, but you have to try to stay positive because you have to try to help your child through it.

“I am trying to balance the panic of what we are going to do with a full-time job while trying to stay calm and help her.

“It is incredibly tough and it is not something I would want anyone else to go through.”

The Watford Observer can reveal 268 children in the Watford area failed to get a school of their choice this year – 27 more than in 2008.

In Rickmansworth, 44 more families suffered disappointment, while 41 children in Bushey did not get one of their three schools, 29 in Croxley Green, and 27 in Chorleywood.

Across south west Hertfordshire those figures represent a shocking 18 per cent rise on last year.

Indeed, the situation locally becomes even starker once compared to the rest of Hertfordshire.

Across the county, almost 12,000 children have been allocated one of their preferred schools, a “success rate” of 92.8 per cent.

A briefing document supplied to county councillors – and seen by this paper – revealed 914 children across the county missed out on a preferred school.

That means almost half of those who missed out across the county were local pupils.

Most of those were instead offered places at Bushey Hall, Westfield Community Technology College or Francis Combe.

Indeed, 241 children were given a place at Bushey Hall despite not choosing it.

Ten of those students come from Sacred Heart Primary School, in Bushey, after they failed to get into St Michael's Catholic High School.

Instead all ten were offered Bushey Hall, a geographically closer school to most of the families.

For one of the parents, Marcia Quinn, she is now facing the prospect of not being able to send her son to a school of his choice, or indeed to a Catholic school.

Marcia said: “Until this year every child who has applied to St Michael's from the school has been offered a place.

“Ten children have not got a place this year and have been offered Bushey Hall instead.”

Asked what affect the news had had on her son, Marcia added: “He is devastated.

“All of the children are devastated.

“Some of them didn't want to go into school this morning. “It is horrendous, absolutely horrendous. It is just a very, very stressful time.”

Local politicians have already called for the Hertfordshire County Council to investigate the issue.

Nigel Bell, a local county councillor and education spokesman for Labour, said the county council should have anticipated the problem.

He said: “The county council should have seen this coming and planned for this situation.

“They can't claim surprise when they have sophisticated computer programmes and experts to study birth details, population growth and general trends in parent preferences.”

The town's MP, Claire Ward, has already said she will be meeting with the county council to demand action.

Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Watford, meanwhile called for “local schools for local children”.

More than 1,000 children from outside the county will attend schools in Hertfordshire for the first time this September.

She said: “We still see children from London and outside Hertfordshire getting into our Watford schools ahead of local children, who are not getting the schools of their choice.

“It's time that Watford schools were for Watford children.

“All Hertfordshire children deserve to not go through this pain, it is appalling.”