Such is the competition for primary school places across London that one mother could not even secure a place for her daughter at a school she helped set up.
Jana Mercereau, 42, helped open the first CofE free school in the country, St Luke’s in Hampstead in 2011, in the hope that she would be guaranteed a place when she finished nursery.
But Makena was not one of the lucky 15 to be granted a place in the first reception class, despite her mother sitting on the board of governors. Management consultant Mrs Mercereau, who works unpaid at the school for 15 hours a week, even moved to Cricklewood to be closer in a bid to secure a place. But the competition was too fierce.
Mrs Mercereau, 42, said: “It’s an epidemic in this area that people are being sent miles away to school and it becomes a real hardship.” Makena is at a private school but her parents hope she will be given a place at St Luke’s in September.
