27-mile commute to go to the school of your choice

Nearly one in four secondary pupils in the capital has to travel outside their home borough, official figures show today. Parents say the statistics "make a mockery" of the Government's claim to be providing more good local schools.

The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations said families were often forced to accept offers far from their homes because schools nearby were massively oversubscribed.

"While pupils may be travelling long distances because their parents have exercised their right of choice, it still is not acceptable that they are put in this situation," said the confederation's spokeswoman Margaret Morrissey.

"Parents are having to put their children through this because they can't get into their local school or it hasn't got a good enough standard of education."

The figures, from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, reveal that this year 84,645 secondary pupils in London - 22.4 per cent of the total - went to schools outside their borough.

Despite the massive amounts of cash spent on new secondaries - primarily city academies - the proportion of pupils who are schooled outside their neighbourhoods has fallen only 0.4 per cent since 2002, when records began.

The statistics show a child living in the middle of Redbridge must travel about 13.5 miles to get to Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet, the boys' grammar that tops this summer's Evening Standard state school A-level league table. The school attracts pupils from all over north London.

Another child, living in central Lambeth, faces a 12-mile trip to get to the furthest-flung school attended by residents from that borough - St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar in Bromley.

In some cases parents are prepared to put up with long school runs or public transport commutes to send their children to grammar schools.

Another reason for the distances travelled is schools are not being built fast enough in areas where they are needed.

Residents in south Camden have been campaigning for a new secondary for 30 years. Nowa city academy will be built in Swiss Cottage and sponsored by University College London, one of Britain's best universities. But campaigners say it will be in the wrong place. In Brent, opponents of the proposed Wembley Academy have demanded an investigation by the Commission for Racial Equality, claiming the project will disadvantage ethnic-minority families in other parts of the borough.

In Brixton, in the borough of Lambeth, parents have been calling for a new school for years. They have permission from Nelson Mandela to name a city academy after him.

But although the council and ministers agree a new school is needed, neither has provided the finance to buy the land. Devon Allison, of the Secondary Schools Campaign In Lambeth, said hundreds of families were being denied a local school because of delays to the project.

Mrs Morrissey added: "Building academies is great, but if they are not in areas where the need is, it is not working as it should. The Government needs to have another look at what it calls choice and how to provide that for pupils."

Lambeth is looking at the feasibility of buying several sites, but the land is likely to cost £20million or more, which could scupper the project. Currently only 49.2 per cent of Lambeth children attend local schools - the second lowest figure in London. However, this should improve next year following the opening this month of a new academy in Herne Hill and a mainstream secondary in Norwood. The borough where the least children attend local schools is Kensington and Chelsea - more than half of secondary-age pupils from there go outside the borough. But it is a special case as more than 50 per cent of local children attend private schools and there is only one non-denominational comprehensive, Holland Park School.

Schools minister Andrew Adonis said: "Travelling is a fact of life in London, so it isn't surprising more pupils travel to a different local authority than anywhere else. But today's figures show this [trend] is slowing. Sustained investment through the London Challenge programme means we have turned around the major school problems and raised standards."

My three-hour round trip

A shortage of places at decent local schools has forced a 15-year-old girl to make a three-hour round trip to lessons. Tiye Walcott gets up at 6am and takes two buses and a train to a school five and a half miles from her Tulse Hill home.

She does homework at lunchtime because she is too tired in the evening.

Her mother Jackie, 42, finally found her a place after a search that took in seven schools, including three in her home borough, Lambeth. Each time she was told there was no space. The only school she was satisfied with was Ricards Lodge High School for girls in Wimbledon.

Ms Walcott has said of Lambeth council: "They've failed their community by closing so many schools. They need to invest in children. The only way to do that is provide a decent school. Too many children are being left by the wayside."

Tiye was turned down by all the Lambeth schools she applied to in 2003, including popular comprehensive Dunraven, in Streatham, where 60 per cent of pupils achieved at least five Cs at GCSE last year, including English and maths. She was offered a place at Stockwell Park, then known as one of the area's toughest schools. "I wasn't prepared for her to go there," said Ms Walcott.

In 2003 only 11 per cent of Stockwell Park GCSE pupils got at least five C grades, including English and maths. That figure reached 42 per cent last year.

Ms Walcott applied in vain to schools in Wandsworth and Merton and to St Marylebone School, Paddington. Then an applicant dropped out of Ricards, where last year 44 per cent of girls scored at least five Cs at GCSE including English and maths.

To get there, Tiye takes two buses to Streatham station and the train to Wimbledon. Tiye, about to start her fifth year, said: "It's a long trip. When I get home, I just watch TV and sleep." Ms Walcott spends £40 a month on fares because Lambeth refuses to pay them.