EIGHTEEN unhappy Poole families found their children excluded from their local first school because there are not enough places.

All live within the catchment area of Courthill First School but as it is oversubscribed, face long journeys to other schools with their four-year-olds in September.

Now there are calls to Poole council to provide more school places in an area experiencing a child boom.

"I am really upset about it," said Jo Turner, 39, of Conifer Avenue, Parkstone, who with fireman husband Mike, 40, had expected Jenson, three, to get a place at their first choice school.

"They have known about this for ages. We still haven't been told which school we can go to, it could be Turlin Moor, Talbot Combined or Sylvan," she said.

With daughters Bryony, 13, at Poole High and Sian, 10, at Baden-Powell and St Peter's, she is considering delaying Jenson's start at school for a year and her degree course in social work at Bournemouth University.

"They say they are going to provide more school places in future but that's not helping us," she said.

"People shouldn't have to go through what we are going through."

It is a pocket around South Western Crescent and near Ashley Cross, where children have lost out on the distance criteria, after Poole council adopted the complex new ranked preference system to allocate places.

"This is a fundamental failure on the part of the council to provide sufficient places in the area where Poole's children live," commented Cllr Phil Eades.

"The parents concerned here have done nothing wrong - they live in the catchment of Courthill and can never have thought they would not get a place."

He said: "The council should provide a temporary classroom at Lilliput - there is no space at Courthill - for these children for September 08 entry."

Beryl Stokes, school places manager, Poole council, said families living within the school's catchment area were given priority but there were still more applications than the 90 places available and those living furthest away lost out.

"We do understand and support parents' wishes to see their children attend the local school," she said.

"We have identified the need for additional places in the Poole High pyramid and are proposing to increase Lilliput First School by 30 places for September 2009," she added.