A WORRIED mum is willing to sacrifice her job to drive her daughter home from a Bromsgrove school.

Karen Malpass, of Hawfinch Rise, Kidderminster, has been offered a place for her 12-year-old daughter Tamara Breakwell at Harry Cheshire High School but she refused because of its reputation.

Instead, she has accepted a place for her daughter at North Bromsgrove High School from September.

Tamara, currently at Bewdley Middle School, has been denied a place at both Bewdley High School and King Charles I High School in Kidderminster.

Harry Cheshire was criticised earlier this year by government inspectors for poor standards but a £700,000 investment plan has been agreed by Worcestershire County Council.

Ms Malpass, 45, is a travelling sales executive and will be able to take, but not collect, her daughter when she joins North Bromsgrove High School. She has vowed to quit her job so she can ensure Tamara gets home safely.

Last year, Tamara was approached by a man in a car in Bewdley after school and her mother will not let her take the bus back from Bromsgrove. She is asking the LEA to provide transport home for her daughter.

This case follows last week's report in the Shuttle/Times & News on 13-year-old Hayley Catmur, who may also attend North Bromsgrove High School. Her parents rejected an offer of a Harry Cheshire place.

Single mum Ms Malpass said: "I'm not asking for a lot. All the kids from Kidderminster who are going to North Bromsgrove could come home in a minibus.

"But I might have to give up my job and go back on social security so I can pick her up. "

She added: "I did exactly what the preference forms told me to do but neither school offered her a place."

A spokesman for the LEA urged parents to study the rules, which state that selecting a first preference school outside a child's catchment area will put them to the back of queue for their second preference.

He added the "chances were not great" of providing transport home for Tamara from Bromsgrove.