PROTESTING parents today launched a community school and urged other families upset by Burnley's pupil places crisis to join them.

Donna Wolfenden, 30, of Allerton Drive, Burnley, along with nine other parents and their children are going independent after their children were refused places at the schools they had chosen.

The group started with just four pupils, but has grown since the case was highlighted in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

They took the first steps today in setting up the new school at The Enterprise Centre, Rossendale Road, Burnley.

The group are having to find funds to employ a teacher at around £15 an hour and are searching for someone to full the roll.

The mums, whose children have been refused places at Ivy Bank, Gawthorpe and Habergham, have organised insurance for the children so the "independent" school is legally covered.

It is going to cost them £150 a year to rent the building and they are all to share the costs for the teaching fees.

The school places problem is acute in the west of Burnley where increasing numbers of people live but where no extra places have been allocated in the three schools.

This year more than 300 people applied for places at Habergham as their first choice school and 180 places were allocated, 151 applied to Gawthorpe and 172 were given places and 268 applied to Ivy Bank where 198 children were allocated a place. All three schools accepted more pupils than they originally intended.

Barden and Walshaw high schools were offered as alternatives but the mothers says they are not happy with this because they are too far away.

They are teaching their children from home, until they move in to the community school on September 16.

Donna said: "We were asked to pick three schools and all have been refused places, which is ridiculous. Children are coming from out of town to come these schools, which is a disgrace."

The family have had various meetings with councillors and education bosses but a solution has still not been found.

Donna's 11-year-old son, Danny has been offered places and travelling expenses to attend Mansfield in Brierfield or Edge End in Nelson, but she says the schools are too far for him to travel.

A petition with more than a thousand signatures has been gathered asking other parents to back their fight.

The community school follows in the footsteps of a similar one set up in Briercliffe in August 1996 after seven pupils were refused schools in Pendle.

A local government ombudsman was called in to investigate and found there had not been any maladministration in the appeals system.

Mrs Wolfenden, who is a carer, said: "We have had meetings but nobody has come up with a solution that's acceptable to us.

"We are not trying to be awkward. we just want our children to go to a reasonable, local school. We've been offered schools in Accrington and Nelson but that isn't good enough.

"We are determined to carry on with our children out of school for as long as it takes.

"We all work, so we are having to take time off to teach our children."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said they allowed parents to arrange teaching for their children outside mainstream education.

They maintained regular contact with parents and teachers to make sure the parent and the place of study were suitable.

Mr Pike says the whole structure of education needed looking at in Burnley and that difficult decisions needed to be made with some schools possibly facing closure.

One option could be building another school in the west of the town.

He said the county council was looking at proposals to help end the annual chaos.