PARENTS are calling on a free school to change its admission policy so their children will not miss out on places.

Archer Academy, in East Finchley, is consulting on changing its criteria, so it can allocate 55 out of its 150 places each year to five feeder schools.

These would be Martin Primary School in East Finchley, Manorside Primary School and Tudor Primary School in Finchley, and Brookland Junior and Garden Suburb Junior schools in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

The school says this will guarantee families in its three catchment areas – N2 (East Finchley), N3 (Finchley), and NW11 (Hampstead Garden Suburb and Golders Green) – will not miss out because of an oversubscription.

But concerns have been raised the community will be split, especially as it was built in East Finchley – although an estimated third of places will still be dished out based on proximity.

However, Alessia Raimondi, of Beechcroft Avenue, Golders Green, who has two children at Garden Suburb Junior, believes it is essential the criteria is changed, as there are “not enough schools” in her area.

The 43-year-old said: “When they wanted to start the school, they asked N2, N3 and NW11 for signatures in order to build the school for us, for everybody.

“But because their admission criteria is for distances, the people living around it have priority. NW11 is now left out. It is putting the post codes against each other.”

She added: “There are not enough schools. This is the nearest one. I will be left out if it does not get changed.”

Shiv Smythe, co-chairman of the Parent Teacher Association at Garden Suburb School, said: “Each year the catchment area is shrinking, which means our children are not getting in. Parents are having to consider moving out of the area.

“We should have a good secondary school nearby and that is the closest one for the majority of our parents.”

The 41-year-old added: “It is not excluding N2. Those who are closest to the school will still get in. All this proposal is trying to do is redress the balance.”

David Noble, of Hertford Road, East Finchley, who has an eight-year-old child at Eden Primary School, said he worried his chances of getting a place were “next to zero”.

He said: “One school cannot provide all the places for all these areas. The sibling factor will become bigger, that may mean there are only 50 places for proximity.

“I understand the plight of families who live in the Suburb and N3. They are feeling exposed, they do not have a school to send their children to. It is a horrible situation.

“But at the end of the day, it got built in East Finchley. We cannot have that space back, we cannot build another school which would have been for East Finchley.”

Mr Noble also criticised the decision to exclude Holy Trinity School, in East Finchley, from being a feeder school on the grounds it is a denominational school – at odds with the academy’s founding ethos.

He said: “I really do not like the fact they have discriminated against Trinity. The children do not have a choice.”

Toby Blume, a governor at the school, told the Times Series: “The school was set up on the basis of demand, which we had to present to the Department for Education, and that came overwhelming from the three postcodes.

“So the school we have been granted permission to set up is true to the founding vision and ethos, that means continuing to service children in those three postcodes. We recognise the support the school was afforded from those areas, and feel an obligation to continue.”

Discussing Holy Trinity School, he said: “No one is excluded. It would be completely inappropriate for us to name a faith school to be a feeder school to a non-denominational school. However, we welcome children of all faiths and none.

“We recognise this is a highly emotive issue, but we feel it is important to find a way to address the shrinkage of our catchment area before it is too late.”