A PARISH vicar is considering appealing after his son was refused a place at the town's only church school.

The Reverend Graham Buttanshaw, vicar of Otley's All Saints Parish Church, had expected his son, Timothy, to start at All Saints CoE Primary School in September.

But instead of being offered a place there, Timothy, three, has been offered a place at Westgate Primary School in Scarborough Road.

Mr Buttanshaw, who is also a governor at All Saints Primary in Lisker Drive, said he was dismayed by the decision.

"I am the parish vicar, All Saints is the church school and you would expect the vicar's child to go there," he said.

Mr Buttanshaw, who often helps out at school assemblies, said places had been awarded by Education Leeds to the closest children to the school with no special circumstances taken into consideration.

"It's all done on geography and we weren't sufficiently close.

"The school has not had anything to do with the decision, the local education authority has sole control over admissions.

"It is the only church school in town and if there are parents who want their children to go to a church school there should be some leeway."

Mr Buttanshaw added: "If the local vicar can't get his child to the local church school then something must be wrong.

"Hopefully, they will learn from it and this turns out to be a teething problem."

Meanwhile, it is the second time the Buttanshaws have been denied their first choice for a school place.

"My 12-year-old Mark, who is now at Prince Henry's, was down to go to St Aidans in Harrogate.

"The head teacher said the school had never before refused the child of a member of the clergy within their catchment area, but he was turned down."

He and his wife, Janet, are now considering whether or not to appeal.

"We're reluctant to appeal because Westgate is a good school and the headteacher has been very supportive.

Dr Joan Kirkland, chairman of the governors of All Saints Primary School, stressed that the governors were not involved in the allocation of places at the school but had informed Education Leeds that the parish vicar would be applying for a place for his son.

"I am appalled that Timothy has been refused a place. Graham Buttanshaw is the head of the Church of England in Otley and this is the only church school.

"He is a school governor, he helps out at assemblies and he is very much involved in the school.

"We want Timothy at the school. He is a lovely little boy, he is in our nursery and we want him to come to a church school.

"We had heard this might happen and we told Education Leeds that he was the son of the church vicar and hoped that common sense would prevail.

"I'm flabbergasted. I cannot believe this has happened. It just goes to show what happens when the bureaucrats in Leeds make decisions."

Dr Kirkland said she would be now contacting Education Leeds and the Buttanshaws to see what she could do to help.

"I'm now making enquiries to assist them if they want us to," she said.

Dr Kirkland added she hoped the family would appeal against the decision.

She said: "Timothy's elder brother was in the church school and I would have thought he would have got in on the sibling rule, but Education Leeds have changed the rules.

"The trouble is we're only allowed to take 30 children and there is another child that I know of that wants to get in. It is complicated."

A spokeswoman for Education Leeds said: "School places across Leeds have to be allocated in line with our admissions policy, which requires that we treat every application equally.

"While we try to meet parents' preferences, it is obviously not possible to do so in every case.

"We would ask the family in this case to contact our admissions section on (0113) 247 5729/5732 for advice."