Admissions to Charters School for September were announced on Monday with 20 parents told their child did not have a place despite living in the school’s designated area.

Parents say this is an example of how the school system cannot cope with the number of families moving into the area.

One parent, who did not want to be named, said their only other option was to pay for their child to go to a local private school as other Royal Borough schools are not a realistic option.

They said: “When you live somewhere, unless you choose to take your child to a school out of the area, you want your children to go to a school nearby and Charters is the only secondary school in Ascot.

“This year has shown that the school does not have the capacity to cater for the families moving into the area. I’m not belittling the school, it’s a brilliant school with a great reputation, that’s why so many people want to go there. I know this year is a big birth year but I just think 20 is a chronic number. It needs to be addressed but without jeopardising the quality of the teaching. Our only other option is to pay for another local school.” Plans to expand on Charter’s 240 places per year were bought forward two years by the Royal Borough in December. The proposal aims to add a further 30 places per year group at the school from 2017 as part of a borough-wide scheme to spend around £18m on boosting school places, but it comes too late for this year’s hopeful applicants.

Another parent also living within Charter’s designated area, said: “We don’t have many other options, what solution do the borough council give? Are they going to provide buses to get the kids to school or pay for taxis? [The children] are not going to be able to get involved properly in school life –you are taking away opportunities for those children who can’t go to after-school clubs if they have to beat the traffic to get home.” Martyn Parker, co-headteacher, stressed his sympathy for those parents unable to get a place this year and said the school’s hands were tied by tight budget constraints.

He said: “As a school we have been trying to get into the public arena that we knew this problem was coming, so we tried to make everyone aware of that. There are tight budgetary settlements which mean we just don’t have the funds to expand.

“We have great sympathy for the people who have not got in. We do hope, as is traditional, that some parents, will decline their offers so some chi dren will still be able to get a place at Charters.” More than 500 families from across the Royal Borough chose Charters on their list of preferred school before the closing date on October 31 last year.