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Parents say their children are feeling "ignored, anxious and isolated" after being turned down for a place at their local catchment secondary school. The children have been left without confirmed places to go to high school in September even though they applied on time and live within catchment.

Newport Council blamed a surge in applications to The John Frost School in Duffryn. The council said it was unable to guarantee places for children at that or any school in the city.

Describing the upset at what should be a happy milestone, the parents said their children's last year at primary has been affected. Some don't want to go into school, can't sleep and are anxious about what is going to happen and where they will go. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here

Parents said at least six children in year six at Clytha Primary in Newport have been turned down by their catchment The John Frost School. Parents of affected children blame poor planning around new house builds putting pressure on school places.

Some have been turned down for their second choice school too. At least one family is even considering moving and they written a joint protest letter to the local authority.

One of the children said: "I felt devastated because most of my friends are going to John Frost. I felt like I was being ignored (when I heard) because I got refused from my catchment school.

"I've had all of my taster days at John Frost and I know a lot about the school and now I'm not going to that school, or any school actually. It's making me really worried because I don't have anywhere to go and I don't know if by then I'm going to have a high school close to home that will be able to get to easily and have any friends there. It just makes me scared."

The girl's parents Aimee and Jordan Evans said they may now have to move house to get their daughter a high school place. Aimee said: "We applied to two schools, John Frost which is our catchment school and Bassaleg as it is the closest school. In hindsight we of course should have listed more but we had no reason to believe she would not get in to her catchment school.

"We will add her to waiting lists for schools in the West of Newport. Like most families, due to work and a younger sibling, we are unable to take her by car on a long journey to the complete other side of Newport.

"We will likely move out of Newport if the situation isn't put right, we can't stay and pay council tax to a city that will not correct such inequity to children and young people."

Laura Barnes, another affected parent, said she applied for a place for her child in their catchment school John Frost, before the deadline last year, but were also declined as the school was oversubscribed. She said Newport Council looked at distance and although they live in catchment they were further away in exact distance from the school than those who got in.

"Our second choice was Bassaleg but we were also declined as we were not priority and again too far away," said Laura, "There are six pupils impacted are all from Clytha Primary School and are in the same class. None of us have a secondary school place anywhere at the moment.

"We are on the waiting lists. Our children will now be considered alongside late applicants, so will likely be to far away to secure a space if late applicants since November are closer.

"We don’t have a school at the moment, we must wait until the end of April to see if our children have ‘secured’ a space. If not we will continue to go through rounds until September and if still no space we may need to consider homeschooling until one opens.

"The west of Newport is oversubscribed in every school, the schools in the east with spaces available are up to four miles away, with no safe or established route for our children. The closest in the east would be St Julian’s but that is also oversubscribed."

Amy Doughty, the parent of another child turned down said: We are all really struggling emotionally with the fall out of this decision - it has become an all-consuming worry. My child has been extremely anxious, is not sleeping, and is feeling increasingly isolated from many conversations with friends around secondary school.

"My child was already nervous about the transition into secondary school, and this has just highlighted and increased those negative feelings. I am deeply concerned about my childs emotional state, and the blasé responses from the council, and their lack of care, compassion and consideration, is shameful. "

Laura blamed poor planning by Newport Council. She said the council has added 603 homes to The John Frost School catchment without a review of the catchment area since 2021. She said data she obtained under Freedom of Information shows that Pillgwenlly primary school has seen an uplift over the last three years from 43 pupils in 2023 to 63 in 2025 and that school is directly beside the new housing estate, the royal Victoria court which opened 2023.

She disputed the council's claim that John Frost was over subscribed thanks to more parents choosing it: "Trends show that all Newport schools, with the exception of Liswerry, have a growth in in-catchment places being offered The west of Newport has a declining number of out of catchment spaces available to and is now appears to be unable to meet needs of children living in the west.

"The council confirmed that John Frost had 303 pupils in its cluster, but only 248 spaces are available at John Frost. That's 55 pupils without a space. Bassaleg High and Newport High accepted 44 additional pupils out of catchment leaving a deficit of 11 spaces in the west of Newport.

"The council have confirmed 11 pupils were rejected in the John Frost catchment and nine of them were from Clytha, six of which are our children with no spaces anywhere - it very much feels that Clytha has been disproportionately impacted and our children have been disadvantaged due to where they live. "

In a joint letter to the council affected parents Laura and Richard Bradley, Natalia Scavone, Adrian Arbon, Darius J. Williams, Amy Doughty, Sarah and Ian Holliste, Humaira and Faheem Pervez and Aimee and Jordan Evans said: "The core issue is that the catchment area system, as currently structured, fails to serve children living in the Clytha Primary School area (in Newport West). While these children are assigned to John Frost’s catchment, their home location, relative to other pupils, places them at a severe disadvantage.

"The result is that a significant number of children are left without places at their catchment school, and no viable alternative has been provided. The displacement of these children is not the result of late applications or parentaloversight—it is highly likely to be a direct consequence of Newport Council’s failure to align school capacity with residential expansion.

"Despite the recent addition of 603 new homes within John Frost’s catchment, no adjustments have been made to the schools capacity or surrounding catchment areas since 2021. This has led to an inevitable bottleneck, disproportionately impacting families in our area."

Newport Council said it can't guarantee a school place, even in catchment. A spokesperson said the local authority understood parents' concerns and would "assist" them in finding a place to start year seven in September.

The council insisted John Frost School was over subscribed. Parents should apply to other schools in the city to be considerted in the next round of late applications.

The spokeperson added: "Applications for places in The John Frost School for the next academic year exceeded the number of places available which meant some in-catchment applications were refused. A small number of these also had their second choice of school refused because that too had reached capacity.

"Parents of affected children were given details of the next steps they could take in the decision letters. The number of children who are in-catchment for The John Frost School is similar to previous years but the increased number of applications suggests that more parents are choosing it as their preferred option.

"We understand this will have caused concern to the affected families and the council will assist them in finding a place for their child in another secondary school. The council is unable to guarantee places for children at any school, even if it is the catchment school.

"There are enough spaces in schools across the city for every child entering year seven in September. Additional capacity was created in The John Frost School by using existing buildings but the council has been advised that it is not possible to develop new buildings because of the constraints of the site.

"Extra places have also been provided in Bassaleg School which has enabled some out of catchment pupils to secure places which has reduced pressure on The John Frost School. Parents of pupils currently without an offer of a place are encouraged to submit new preference requests as soon as possible so that they can be considered within the first late round of applications."

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