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. Now a 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 out-side 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."