A boy has been told he does not have a place at a new school even though his name is on all the class registers.

Kieren Fuller, 11, was refused a place at Peacehaven Community School on appeal, despite having recently moved into its catchment area.

However his name was put on the school's registers by mistake and was even called out in class.

Kieren has even received phone calls from friends asking him why he has not turned up for school and if he is sick.

His mother, Mandy, of Arundel Road, Peacehaven, thought her son had been offered a place at the school. But when she took him in she was told there was no room for him after all.

She is refusing to send him to Tideway School in Newhaven instead and has kept him off school for more than three weeks.

She said: "They said even though he was on the register at Peacehaven he couldn't join the class. They said it was a mistake. It is just ridiculous.

"We live in Peacehaven and have done for several months and all Kieran's friends from Telscombe Cliffs Primary School are at the school.

"What is worse is when they ring him up and ask why he isn't in today. He is very bored and miserable and wants to be at school with his friends.

"I do not want him to go to Tideway and I don't see why he should when he lives in Peacehaven. It is more than four miles away."

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said he could not comment about the error on the register.

He said: "Schools have a limited capacity and unfortunately some are not able to give a place to all the children who want one.

"In these circumstances, the council will offer them a place at an alternative school. If this happens, the parents have the option of going to an independent appeal panel, who can choose to overturn the council's decision.

"It appears that is what happened in this case and that they were refused."

Alison Bennett, student services manager at the Peacehaven school said: "His name was called out for the first couple of days because we were working from a manual list of everyone who had applied. There were 10 or 11 others on that list who had applied and did not get places.

"We are now working on an electronic register, which is everyone who was rightfully allocated a place, and Kieren Fuller is not one of them. He has been allocated a place at Tideway."