Angry Christian parents say they will not let their daughter become a “minority” by joining a controversial Sikh secondary school in September after she was allocated a place by council admission officers despite it not being named as one of her preferred choices.

Kirsty Jarvis said her 11-year-old daughter Freya was looking forward to going to secondary school but while her friends have mostly been allocated a place in Beaconsfield she was offered the Khalsa Secondary Academy by Bucks County Council.

The Farnham Royal family have said they knew they were out of the catchment area for their preferred choices but were shocked and upset by the decision to offer them the Stoke Poges-based faith school.

Mrs Jarvis said: “We’re a practicing Christian family and while we aren’t wanting her to go to a Christian school, my daughter should not obviously be expected to attend a Sikh school.

“We knew we were ever so slightly out of the catchment for a number of our first choices but we never thought we would be given Khalsa.

“In this day and age I could not imagine ever sending my child to a school where she would become a minority.

“Although it’s open to all, each day they take students off for morning prayers and my daughter would not be doing that, and she would therefore be taken out and isolated – I’m not sure she would be able to cope with that.

“Ideally we would like her to go to a school which studies all religious education so she can have a better understanding of all faiths.”

Last year the school was controversially given permission to stay in the village when Secretary of State Eric Pickles went against the advice of a planning inspector to allow them to stay – but he reversed this decision last week.

A decision on the future of the school has not yet been reached and discussions are ongoing.

Mrs Jarvis said: “We had read a lot about the school in the past and it is not even certain it will still be in Stoke Poges in September.

“It would be dangerous to send out daughter somewhere she does not want to go and which has such an uncertain future.”

BCC spokesman Richard Wells said: “Where the County Council can't meet any of a parent's preferences, then the nearest school is allocated.

“In Mrs Jarvis's case, Khalsa Academy is the nearest school at 1.771 miles away, although Burnham Park E-Act Academy is the catchment school where there are still places.

“The advice to parents is the same for any school: accept the place at this point and then; appeal for preferred schools, go on the waiting list for preferred schools, add any other schools as preferences to consider in the second round of allocations.”

BCC say more details can be found on these websites: https://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/documents/s39182/DLES11.13%20Appendix%201.pdf

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/3005873/ALLOCATION-PROFILE-March-2015.pdf

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/media/2404953/2014-15-Moving-to-secondary-3.pdf