CHARFIELD Primary School does not have enough places to meet demand in the village - three years after education chiefs lowered intake levels.

Parents are facing the prospect of having their four-year-old children bussed to neighbouring villages because the school is oversubscribed for September 2008.

In 2005, despite local protests, it had its intake level reduced from 40 to 30 by South Gloucestershire Council.

However, it is understood that 40 children's names have already been put down for the start of the next academic year and it is thought that all but one of the children lives within half a mile of the primary school.

If a solution is not found, all the additional children will have to be bussed from their homes in Charfield to other schools, such as Tortworth or Alexander Hose in Wickwar.

The council has referred to the figures as a blip, as last September the school attracted only 23 pupils, in 2006 30 pupils and in 2005 just 21. Officers have said they are working on a solution.

A council spokesman said: "We are working with the school to reach a satisfactory solution for all concerned and will be letting parents know the outcome of those discussions at the beginning of March."

The sudden rise in popularity for Charfield Primary School has been put down to a good Ofsted report, improvements to the school's facilities and a successful on-site pre-school.

Parents calling for intake levels to be increased have been given the support of Northavon MP Steve Webb.

Mr Webb said: "One of the great strengths of our local area is our village primary schools.

"Local schools are at the heart of the local community and it would be totally unacceptable if parents who lived just half a mile away from the school were told they were 'too far away' to gain a place at Charfield.

"The idea of large numbers of reception children having to be ferried to neighbouring schools, in some cases being taken past the front door of their local school, would be totally unacceptable."