More than 50 concerned parents demanded to know last night why their children "are not welcome at local schools."

Some 28 per cent of children in the Three Rivers district have not been allocated any of their first three choices of secondary school this year.

In Croxley Green alone 29 out of 183 applicants were sent to Watford’s Westfield College after missing out on a chosen place.

Some families living close to popular Rickmansworth School – where they had expected their children to win a place – said they have been betrayed.

Parents meeting at Yorke Mead School last night accused the school of turning its back on local children; choosing instead to select brighter pupils or siblings from further afield – in many cases out of county.

Susan Dollard, of Links Way, said the school had no right to call itself a community school when it "shut its doors to so many local children." She added: “We might not want to go to Westfield [which currently is taking 100 more pupils than it has available places] but at least our children are wanted there.”

Other parents expressed concern that the school’s appeals committee was independent of that operated by the county council.

Asked why his school was not making similar concessions to Westfield, admissions committee chairman Dr Edgar Anderson said the school was taking the same amount of children as it had in previous years and simply could not cope with demand. He added that many of the current excess application would fall away by the end of the process.

Challenged with accusations that abuse of locality rules was rife –with parents renting houses on the school’s doorstep for a short period to win places for their children – Dr Anderson said any such cases were fully investigated by the school.

Liberal Democrat district council leader Ann Shaw then attacked the Conservative run county council for “viewing children as statistics” and again pressed the need for a new secondary school in the area.

Councillor Shaw also criticised Conservative County Councillor Keith Emsall, portfolio holder for education, of “not bothering to turn up” to the meeting after being invited by letter.

Mr Emsall, however, denied having been invited to any such meeting when the Watford Observer contacted him this morning, accusing Councillor Shaw of playing politics ahead of next month’s county council elections.

He said: “That’s quite untrue. I have had no communication at all from her about this meeting or any other subjects,” adding that he would gladly have attended if asked.

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