A SENIOR nurse fears she will have to leave the job she loves and uproot her family because her child has been allocated a school place miles from their home.

Clare and Richard Scott, of Forest View Road in West Way, were devastated to learn that their four-year-old son Ben had been given a school place at Heathlands Primary School in West Howe.

They had applied for Epiphany, Queens Park and Moordown St John’s, which are all around 0.6 of a mile from their home. There are 14 schools closer to their home than Heathlands, which is around three miles away.

Bournemouth council has indicated it will provide a taxi service to transport Ben to and from school but there is no way either parent can travel with him and still be on time for their jobs at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital in time to start work.

Clare, 32, said she can see no other realistic alternative to giving up her job at the oncology and haematology department.

She said: “When we saw that Ben had been allocated a place at Heathlands, our reaction was one of disbelief. Initially we thought there must have been a mistake. We had never even heard of Heathlands.

“Our plan was for my husband to take Ben to school before starting work but Heathlands is in the opposite direction so he won’t be able to do that now.

“I absolutely love my job, I was the first ever newly qualified nurse my boss took on 10 years ago and I’ve been there ever since. I would be devastated if I had to give it up but I just can’t see what else we can do.

“Obviously I will do anything for my children but as it’s my chosen career and I’ve been there so long, leaving is not something I want to do.

“Plus financially we will not be able to keep this house on one wage so we may also have to move. Our lives have been turned upside down by this ridiculous decision, I don’t think there is a day since we found out that I haven’t cried.”