A YOUNG mum says she cannot send her daughter to school because it is too far away.

Gemma Cook’s four-year-old daughter Lakeisha was unable to get a place in Old Town’s Lethbridge Primary School and King William Street School in September.

Instead, Lakeisha secured a place in Even Swindon School in West Swindon but Gemma said it would be a 50-minute walk for her daughter every morning.

“She needs to go to school,” said Gemma, 20, of Old Town.

“Her playgroup has told me she needs to go – she is reading and has learned to write her name.

“It makes me angry as a mum and it is upsetting. I know what Lakeisha can do.

“Would anyone want to send a four-year-old child walking in the freezing cold and rain?”

The single mum, who does not have a car, has asked Swindon Council to help with transport, but has been told the school is within walking distance, according to Government guidelines. Gemma said it is a two-mile walk each way via roads to get there.

“I have written letters and been down to the council’s Sanford House,” she said. “My daughter is the oldest in her play group and has to play with three-year-olds. I have been told they have no room for one little child in three schools.

“She will get behind in her reading and writing.

“I feel like I am being taken for a mug.”

Gemma said she would be delighted if Lakeisha could get into one of the three nearest schools: Lethbridge, King William Street or Robert Le Kyng.

Gemma mistakenly put down Even Swindon as a third choice, as she did not realise it was so far being new to the area.

A Swindon Council spokesman said: “The process isn’t over yet, as Miss Cook has submitted an appeal for a place at Robert Le Kyng which will be heard this week. She has also appealed about the school transport decision which will be heard soon.

“When she first applied to us for a place for her daughter, Miss Cook put down Even Swindon as her third preference school.

“She changed her second preference later on, but Even Swindon remained as her third preference, and this is the school we ultimately offered to her.

“We can only allocate places based on what people put on their forms.”

The council hopes to open a new school a year early to cope with the shortage of places in Old Town. East Wichel Primary School could open in September near the Croft Sports Centre and take 60 children in temporary accommodation until the permanent building is completed in Wichelstowe.