Romesh Ranganathan criticises West Sussex council over son’s school place

The comedian Romesh Ranganathan has hit out at his local council after his youngest son did not get offered any of his preferred choices in his secondary school placement.

Mr Ranganathan said he had emailed West Sussex County Council six times after his son had been placed in a school “on the other side of town”, and not at the same school as his elder brother.

He said he had received no response and his local MP, who agreed to investigate, had been told the council “can’t do anything about it”.

A council spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on individual matters, but we acknowledge the disappointment when students cannot be placed at their first choice.”

Mr Ranganathan, who hosts A League of Their Own and a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, said he was particularly angry as his elder son was already at the school the family had selected as his youngest son’s first choice.

Taking to social media, he said he had emailed the council six times but had had no response, even though other parents had received replies.

Describing what happened after he took the family’s case to his MP, Mr Ranganathan said: “I wait two weeks, they come back and say, ‘West Sussex has looked into it. They can’t do anything. They have conducted an investigation of their placement procedure and they found it to be satisfactory’.

“I bet they have. Then he said to me, ‘I’m sure it’s disappointing’. It’s more than disappointing. It’s not the football, it’s my son’s school placement.”

He said the family would now have to go on the waiting list for an alternative school place and see what happened.

The council spokesperson said: “We will always work with families to ensure a suitable school placement can be found.”

On Wednesday, the council said 91.1% had been offered their first preference school and 98.6% of all applicants were offered a place at one of their three preferences.