Children face having to go to school outside the county following the decision to close a struggling secondary school in Hextable.

Kent County Council, which opposed the closure of Oasis Academy, says it has had to offer places for the first time in the London boroughs of Bexley and Bromley.

A report warned that this is likely to happen in larger numbers over the next two to three years as most secondary schools in Hextable, Swanley and Dartford will be “full to capacity” once the displaced pupils from Oasis Academy have been accommodated.

Officers also warned that families moving into the area cannot be guaranteed a local place, which will itself lead to an impact on KCC’s home-to-school transport budget.

A report to the Education and Young People’s Services Cabinet Committee last week said of the closure next year: “This presents some serious challenges for Kent County Council in meeting its statutory duty to offer a school place to all children requiring a place in the near future.”

Council chiefs have now had to bring forward plans to increase secondary school provision. Options include expanding existing schools and academies or commissioning new schools.

The decision to close Oasis Academy after 40 years as a school was made by the Department for Education (DfE) in February over growing fears of falling pupil numbers.

This year, the Egerton Avenue school is operating at 44% of capacity, which was set to reduce to 38% by 2017.

There will be no intake of pupils in September and only those currently in Years 10 and 12 will remain throughout the 2015-16 academic year.

KCC opposed the closure on the basis of on-going need for secondary school places and said it was “unreasonable action” to take.

Demand for secondary school places looks set to increase as there are currently large year groups in primary schools and the report said this was likely to need “significant investment” either by KCC or the DfE.

It added: “The closure of Oasis Academy Hextable has already led to a shortfall of Year 7 places in maintained schools and academies in north Sevenoaks and Dartford districts for the allocation of places for September 2015.

“For the first time KCC has had to offer secondary school places at schools located in the London boroughs of Bexley and Bromley to Kent resident children.

“This is likely to be required increasingly as larger cohorts reach secondary age in the next couple of years.

“Most of the secondary schools in the area will be full to capacity across many year groups once the displaced Hextable pupils have been accommodated.

“This is likely to lead to problems for families with secondary age children moving into the area, who will be unlikely to be able to secure a place in a local school.

“This could have consequences for KCC’s home-to-school transport budget as such children would be entitled to assistance.”

An earlier proposal to close the school after it was judged to “require improvement” by Ofsted in June 2013 was rejected by KCC based on the same need for secondary school provision.

It led to Oasis Community Learning Trust being appointed by the DfE to run the school from September that year.

However, concerns about low pupil numbers were raised by OCL in early 2014 and in December last year made a formal request that its funding agreement to operate Oasis Academy be terminated on the grounds of unviability.

The school is also home to a speech and language unit which will transfer to Leigh Academy in Dartford.