BURNLEY businesses are backing a breakaway school for children whose parents are refusing to send them to mainstream institutions.

The parents launched a community school of their own after their children were denied places in Burnley schools.

Several families refused to send their children to school places allocated by Lancashire County Council.

The problem is said to be acute in the west of Burnley where increasing numbers of people live but where no extra places have been allocated in the three schools.

This year more than 300 people applied for places at Habergham as their first choice school and 180 places were allocated, 151 applied to Gawthorpe and 172 were given places and 268 applied to Ivy Bank where 198 children were allocated a place.

All three schools accepted more pupils than they originally intended.

The parents have since set up a make-shift community school at the Enterprise Centre in Rossendale Road.

The "DIY School" as it is now known opened its doors last Monday and has eight children on the books.

Uniforms have been provided by clothing manufacturers Simon Jersey, Bookmark of Rose Grove have supplied textbooks, Sankey Office Supplies of Nelson have donated stationery, a mystery benefactor has paid the building insurance for one year and Astra Care Home Care Services are giving parent Donna Wolfenden time off to work as a teaching assistant at the school.

WH Smith and Badger Books in Keirby Walk, Burnley, is giving the school a discount on books.

David Bell, of Bookmark, said: "One of the mums came into see us and asked if we would like to donate anything. We just felt it was a good cause to support and it is local to us.

"Being school suppliers it is second nature to us."

Simon Jersey donated 12 polo shirts with its own unique logo embroidered on the front after being approached by a member of staff.

Nicole Freemont, a customer service advisor at their Altham headquarters, sent her son Leon to the school after he was refused a place at Gawthorpe High School.

She said: "I asked the directors if they would be willing to fund us for anything and they asked the children to design the logo, which they donated and embroidered for free."

Donna, 30, of Allerton Drive, Burnley, has been overwhelmed by the support she and other mums have been given.

She said: "There are some days you think it's not going to work, but the help we are getting makes it worth while."

"We want to thank people who are giving us their 100 per cent backing, but we still need help.

"We need people to come forward with anything they can. Nothing is too small, anything would help us."

The school has also been thrown a lifeline by a professional teacher who is now giving lessons at the school.

Andrew Cook, of Brennand Street, Burnley, got in touch with the rebel mums after reading about their plight in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

He is teaching Spanish and French in the afternoons.

He said: "I want these children to have a good start before they are given places in mainstream schools.

"A child's education is vital and they have to get the best education they can."

Joining Andrew at the school is assistant, Linda Murgatroyd, who is teaching English in the mornings.

"I am not a teacher, but have I have just completed a degree in education and wanted to help."

"At the moment the system is very bureaucratic and it needs to be changed", she said.

Another teacher, currently employed in Manchester, has also been in touch with the school to offer her services.

The children have been refused places at Ivy Bank, Gawthorpe and Habergham and offered places in schools miles from their homes.

Some have been offered places at schools they did not pick as a preference for their child.

Several meetings between the families and education officers have been held, but to date, no compromise has been found.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "There is an opportunity for parents to educate their children.

"Parents must contact the Local Education Authority to inform them of what they are doing, just to ensure that their children continue to receive a suitable education.

"If it is being run as a school, we will contact the Department of Education and Skills and they may carry out their own inspections."