A WORCESTER student could be kept off school "indefinitely" because his parents fear a one-hour journey on public transport is too much for him.

Chris Kenwrick should have started at Elgar Technology College - formerly Elgar High School - earlier this month.

But the 11-year-old's mother Jackie is angry her son faces a long journey on two different buses after he was refused a place at nearby Nunnery Wood High.

The 39-year-old mum-of-three failed in her appeal to the Local Education Authority and has now written to MP Mike Foster asking for help.

The problem arose after the family moved from Warndon to Bunns Road, off Bath Road, in June.

Despite living in the catchment area for Nunnery, they were told it was full and Chris would have to attend Elgar. Neither parent is able to take him to school themselves.

"The situation's ludicrous," said Mrs Kenwrick, a special needs worker at Warndon Primary.

"A school bus for Nunnery Wood passes the end of our road, yet Chris will have to take a normal bus into CrownGate in order to change for Perdiswell.

"He's quite a nervous child and I'm sure he'd panic if he missed the bus and was late for school."

Although his brother, Richard, 17, and sister Laura, 15, attend schools in The Tything, they can both walk.

"As far as we're concerned he's staying at home indefinitely," said Chris's father Colin Kenwrick.

"We're buying him textbooks to work on while he's at home and there could come a point where we have to look at our options.

"But we really don't want to send him to Elgar as it will mean he won't be with any of his friends and it will add an hour-and-a-half on to his day in travel time.

"The headmaster of Nunnery Wood has written to us saying the situation will be looked at in a couple of weeks, so we'll wait and see. But for now Chris is definitely staying at home."

A spokesman for the LEA said 365 people had applied for 270 places at Nunnery.

"While we sympathise with Mrs Kenwrick's concerns there were no places available at Nunnery Wood at the time she applied because the application was submitted six months after the deadline," he said.

"Our decision was ratified by the Independent Appeals Panel and if Mrs Kenwrick feels the panel's process was unfair, she can take her case to the Ombudsman."