A NEWPORT mother-of-two has written to the Queen after she was unhappy with the school place her four-year-old daughter was given.

Kandice Murch from Bettws said she was signed off of work following from the stress of appealing to Newport Council over school admissions.

27-year-old Ms Murch appealed twice to the council after she was allocated Malpas Church School which she claimed she would be unable to get to every day.

The anxious mother has said her daughter Maisie has been in tears because she hasn’t been excited for starting school in September.

Ms Murch, who is also mother to one-year-old Jenson, said: “It’s horrendous to see your four year old’s behaviour change, she’s picked up on all the negativity. Time’s running out and it’s been ripping us apart.”

The home carer put just one choice of primary school on the application form, before submitting another school choice later in the year.

In March she was told she had been refused places at both Millbrook Primary School and Monnow Primary School, but had been allocated a place at a school in Malpas.

Ms Murch said: “Malpas is too far away to get to as my partner and I both need to work.”

Maisie’s father, Mark Davis, said: “It’s just been a nightmare since March, a completely negative school experience for our first born child. My daughter doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going and her future is more important than anything.”

Now Ms Murch has written to the local MP, councillor, Nick Clegg and the Queen, as well as launching a petition which has gathered more than 50 signatures.

Councillor Kevin Whitehead, for Bettws ward, said: “It seems a crazy situation whereby she lives so close to one school but her child has been allocated to another.

“I have never known someone to be so feisty, and fair play to her. Everybody wants the best for their children. But school placements have always been a hot potato.”

A council spokesperson said: “When applying for a school place, parents are invited to name up to three preferred schools, whether they are their catchment school or not.

“In cases where a place is not available at any of the preferred schools stated, a place will be offered at the catchment school if places are still available, or at the nearest school with places.”

Ms Murch is now set to remain on the waiting list for the two preferred schools in Bettws, with the hope a place will become available.