Anita Shah and daughter Keya. Picture: Tony Gay.

After 42 Haringey children were left without a primary school for next year following last week’s allocation of places from Haringey Council, the Journal spoke to the parents of a couple of these children about their fears and frustration.

Anita Shah, 35, above, and her husband Samit, 34, of Cranley Gardens, Muswell Hill, applied to three Haringey primary schools in the search for a school place for their four-year-old daughter Keya this September. But Keya was not accepted by a single one.

“We have three schools within 0.3 miles of our house; we shouldn’t need to go outside of that,” said Mrs Shah.

“We are happy to send our daughter to any of the schools but we didn’t get into any. What are we paying our taxes for if we can’t get our kid into a local school?

“No-one has attempted to explain to us what has gone wrong – the council offer very little reassurance.

“I think there is a serious lack of communication – it is unclear who is accountable for all of this. Who gets the blame for this?

“I think the process needs better communication and better accountability of who is in charge and what the plan is for the next five years.”

Another parent, who did not wished to be named, of Princes Avenue, Muswell Hill, did not receive a single school place for his son despite applying to six Haringey schools.

He said: “There are people three buildings down from us who moved in two years ago and they got their two daughters into Rhodes Avenue Primary School.

“We’ve been in the area 12 years and I was born in Muswell Hill. You start to think, ‘What is going on?’ How can they get their two twins into a school of 90 places but then we don’t get our son in when we are 0.3 miles away from the school?

“We’ll probably end up being offered a school that is not performing, that people don’t want to send their children to.

“I’ve paid my taxes for 40 years, I just feel there is a huge injustice. We brought a child into the world and we wanted him to go to our local school. We just feel all sorts of emotions – we feel seriously let down.”