Thousands of four-year-old children are stranded without a school place.

An Evening Standard survey reveals that almost 2,200 children have not been offered a place at a state primary for September.

It comes only days after Gordon Brown and David Cameron won places for their children at their chosen schools and will trigger fresh concern over access to the best state primaries.

Our poll of London education authorities shows demand has reached record levels, with up to 14 per cent of children "unplaced" in some areas. In Enfield, for example, 266 four-year-olds have not been offered a place. Other worstaffected boroughs include Merton, Croydon, Kingston and Camden.

Today, council officials will begin the task of trying to solve the problem without triggering legal battles with dissatisfied parents who face a long wait to find out where their children will go to school.

Kingston council laid part of the blame for the surge in its primary schools' popularity on the credit crunch putting parents off private education.

But Kingston mothers rejected this claim. Joanna Cobley, an oil contractor who is looking for a place for son Daniel, four, said that at best local prep schools were offering places on their waiting lists. "All the private schools are full, so them saying people are abandoning private schools and that is what the problem is, that is absolutely not true," she said.

Another mother, Vicky Grinnell-Wright, said the council had apparently miscalculated the likely demand for places this year after a surge in

Waiting: Joanna Cobley with son Daniel, four, who has not been allocated a school place for September by Kingston council

births in 2004 and had not apologised. The Standard contacted London's 32 boroughs to find out how many children had not received an offer of a place at any of their parents' preferred primaries.

Of the 29 councils that responded, 14 said they had no "unplaced" children and the other 15 said the proportion of unplaced pupils ranged from 2.2 per cent in Havering to 14 per cent in Kingston. Hounslow, Wandsworth and Barking and Dagenham were unable to provide figures.

It is unlikely that any four-year-olds will be left without a place by September but some may be forced to go to a school their parents would never have chosen.

Council's court bid to expand classes

TOWN HALL bosses are going to the High Court in their bid to expand a popular primary to meet soaring demand.

Merton is turning to legal action after its request to expand Wimbledon Chase primary was rejected by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

The council wanted to increase the reception class intake from 60 to 90 and was backed by residents and headteachers of neighbouring schools. The OSA has accepted similar requests by other schools.

But schools adjudicator Ruth Eade said Merton had failed to prove the surge in demand was a "serious and unexpected event", as is required for emergency changes to admissions rules. The ruling has angered parents who live less than a third of a mile from the school but cannot get their children in.

Parent Paul Griffiths, said: "The council and schools are willing to create extra places, and you have a bureaucratic answer from a government body that is supposed to support fair access to education."

Debbie Shears, Merton's cabinet member for children's services, said: "We are confident we have a strong case."

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