A MUM is furious after being told her twins can’t get a place at the same school.

Karen Phillips, 39, explained how four year olds Jamie and Joanne tick all the boxes for a place at St Mary’s School, Tilbury. They live two minutes away, have an older sibling enrolled there and have attended St Mary’s nursery school for more than a year.

Yet Thurrock Council has only given a place at the Catholic school to Jamie. Joanne looks set to be sent to the town’s Manor Infant School.

Karen, of Cowper Avenue, Tilbury, said: “How am I supposed to be in two places at once when it’s time to pick them up? I already have a child in Year 3 at St Mary’s and I don’t want my twins split up.

“The school took 45 kids on last year, so why is it only taking 34 this year?”

Other mums are also furious their children can’t get a place at the school.

Stacey West, of Darwin Road Tilbury, will have to take her daughter to St Thomas’ School, in Grays.

She said: “It seems like this happens every year. Why doesn’t the council just sort this out?”

Last year, scores of children wanting a place at St Mary’s were knocked back due to a lack of space, but after a campaign by parents, the school agreed with Thurrock Council to accelerate plans for an extra classroom, and took 11 more children.

Andy Lever, a council spokesman, said it is up to the school to decide how many children it takes.

He said: “The governing body sets the admissions criteria, then the council allocates pupil places on behalf of the school, and in line with the criteria. The school was oversubscribed this year, therefore not every applicant was offered a place.”