Girl's distress at being turned away from school

Rhianna was initially told her daughter Lily-Mae was not on the system at Emscote Infant School

A mum has said her six-year-old daughter had been through “stress” and “humiliation” after going to her new school on the first day of term only to be told she did not have a place.

Rhianna took her daughter Lily-Mae to Emscote Infant School in Warwick on Tuesday, but they were told she was not on the system.

She told the BBC they had been offered a place at the school in July and she had accepted it via the council’s school admissions team.

Warwickshire County Council said on Wednesday it had worked with the school “to resolve the situation” and a place at the school had now been found for Lily-Mae.

Lily-Mae previously attended a school in Lower Quinton, near Stratford-upon-Avon, but she needed a new school when her family moved to Warwick in April.

Rhianna said they were offered a place at Emscote Infant School in July, to start in the autumn term, but when she tried to accept the offer online it did not go through.

She said she contacted the council's school admissions team, who said they would accept the place on her behalf.

Rhianna said her daughter was "very excited" on Tuesday morning before they went to her new school

Over the summer, Rhianna sent Lily-Mae to holiday clubs at the school and bought uniforms, so that her daughter was well prepared for the first day of term.

Rhianna said Lily-Mae was “very excited” before school on Tuesday and when they were turned away she became “very upset, started crying in the reception, cried all the way home”.

She added: “It’s just sad to see a child be humiliated like that. And it was embarrassing for me as a parent, to be told in front of all the other parents that were there waiting: ‘I don’t know why you’re here.’ ”

'An absolute mess'

Warwickshire County Council said it was now “liaising directly with the family” to arrange for Lily-Mae “to be in school as soon as possible”.

Rhianna said she was “very pleased” that her daughter now had a school place and could establish a routine, but the whole affair had been an “absolute mess”.

She said she hoped the council would put measures in place to prevent it happening again, so that “no other children have to go through what Lily’s been through - all the stress and upset and humiliation”.