More than 50 children could be forced to commute to Canterbury for their education after an oversubscribed school received a record number of applications.

Herne Bay High has been inundated with phone calls this week from worried parents whose children were not accepted into its Year 7 cohort.

Head teacher Jon Boyes says the town’s only secondary school has received 528 applications, of which almost 330 selected it as their first choice, to join in it in September.

As a result he has this week been forced to offer places to 272 pupils - seven more than its published admission number.

“In terms of first-choice applications it is the most the school’s had for a significant amount of time,” Mr Boyes said.

“There are students in the Herne Bay postal area who have been offered Canterbury schools because the schools on the coast - us, the Whitstable School and Spires - are full.

“They are people who live in Herne Bay, Chestfield, Swalecliffe and Whitstable.”

“If the numbers keep increasing year on year, the problem’s only going to get worse..."

Mr Boyes is expecting as many as 50 parents to lodge appeals through Kent County Council, which could lead to the school being forced to take on more pupils.

A dad, who wanted to remain anonymous, told KentOnline his son was one of those unable to get into Herne Bay High, despite listing it as his first choice.

“What annoys us is we have heard that people have got in where they have applied for it as their second and third choices,” he said.

“It’s a local school and the best in the area. We want our child to get in the best school possible and not to go to Canterbury where it’s not so good.”

Two years ago, 274 children listed Herne Bay High as their first-choice, more than any other comprehensive or grammar across the district and Faversham.

This came after its published admission number was increased in 2016 from 258 to 265 after 299 youngsters picked it as their preferred option.

“Over the last few years we’ve been over-capacity to try to meet the needs of the community,” Mr Boyes added.

“What would be brilliant is if we could take them all. But we haven’t got the capacity on site.

“If the numbers keep increasing year on year, the problem’s only going to get worse.”

Kent County Council has previously outlined the need for an expansion of the high school.

The authority also launched a feasibility study last year to identify how the secondary could accommodate 30 more Year 7 pupils in 2023.

“There will be a significant number of students travelling into the city for high school places,” Mr Boyes said.

“In a way it goes against the grain of all the brouhaha last year about the only students travelling into the city centre are those trying to find grammar schools.”

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