Families have talked of their frustration, confusion and surprise after their children were not given places at their local secondary school.

Both the Barnard family and the Roll family of Braintree live half-a-mile from their first choice school - Notley High School, in Notley Road.

But instead their children will have about a 30 minute walk to a school they did not even choose located the other side of town.

Now they have a "worrying" wait to see how far their children climb on a list of those all pushing to get into their preferred schools.

They will appeal Essex County Council's decision to send their sons to Alec Hunter Humanities College, which they did not list as an option, but what they want to know is why they were not successful with Notley when they live so close?

Samantha Barnard, 30, Bradley's mother, said: "I heard about this situation last year and the year before, but now I'm in this situation I'm fuming at the moment and because the letter I got from Essex County Council basically told me he was not ranked high enough for Notley.

"I was so surprised he didn't get into Notley as he is so close. Last year there was a boy who lives opposite the house on the same road and he got in so I'm just confused. It's just frustrating as we automatically thought he would get Notley High. People are saying it's just a big year group, but I really don't know."

And Sarah Roll, 37, Jacob's mother, said: "I don't think I should be going through this and an 11-year-old child certainly should not be going through this. Virtually the whole of his year group got Notley. Only five got Alec and from what I can gather three of those are in the catchment area for Alec."

Mrs Barnard said the admissions rules did not seem fair, adding children living in the outer areas of Braintree have priority over those a stone's throw away from the school.

The county council's secondary schools admissions booklet revealed for Notley, as well as other schools, children living in outlying areas, such as Terling, have priority over those in the town centre, and if you have a sibling already at the school it gives you an edge over others in your area.

County council figures showed 80.76 per cent of families get their first preference school.

More figures revealed Notley High, which has places for 240 students, was the most popular Braintree secondary school by far with 657 total preferences in this year's applications.