AS MANY as 17 new schools are needed in Oxfordshire by 2020 or children will face being bussed across the county or not having a place at all.

The stark warning from unions, teachers and education experts came after new figures revealed there will be 5,787 extra pupils here within four years.

The Government has been accused of creating a 'complete mess' by insisting all new schools must be free schools or academies – taking decisions about the location of new builds out of the hands of the council.

National Union of Teachers (NUT) Oxfordshire representative Gawain Little said there was a danger that the Department for Education was not building schools where they were needed most.

He said: "One of my biggest worries with the free school programme is that you can have a situation where the is a desire for places for children in part of the county but a free school might open in another part.

"There is nothing to require a free school to be opened where there is a need for places.

"Leaving decisions about new schools to the market is gambling with our children's education, we are risking their life chances.

"We will end up with a situation where children end up being bussed across the county or even into temporary accommodation."

The new figures from consultancy Scape used data from the Department for Education (DfE) and showed 193 new classrooms are needed by 2020.

This is the equivalent of 14 new one-form-entry primaries and three new secondaries.

Oxfordshire County Council said 17 new schools would not be required as it planned some schools to have two forms of entry, but did not dispute the number of overall classrooms required.

Oxford Spires Academy in East Oxford is one of a number of schools in the county that is oversubscribed.

Headteacher Sue Croft said: "Parents are beginning to fret about whether their children get in or not.

"The worry is that there is not transparency about the selection of free schools based on need and that it is not strategic enough.

"Parents are really worried about whether they will get their child into their first choice school."

Academies are state schools free from local authority control, while free schools can be set up by groups such as parents, charities, churches and businesses and are funded directly by central government.

Windmill Primary School in Headington has not converted to academy status and has expanded over the past six years to move from two-form to three-form entry, including building four new classrooms.

Headteacher Lynn Knapp said: "The government needs to reassess its whole education policy because it has become a complete mess.

"We were very fortunate that we had a vehement group of parents pushing for expansion, if you do not have that it is much, much harder.

"It is all about central government funding, everything is being done on a shoestring.

"The Government wants these school places but it will not provide the funding."

Oxfordshire County Council still plans where school places are needed despite having little say over where those places will be created.

Its pupil place plan for the next 17 years is due to be released next month.

County councillor and education expert Professor John Howson said: "We are no longer masters of our own destiny because the DfE can dump a free school in the county at any point in time.

"We are working with one hand behind our backs, we have this chaotic situation."

County council spokesman Paul Smith said: "Oxfordshire County Council is actively working to secure the additional new schools needed within the county and liaises closely with the Government to ensure that sufficient new schools are opened in Oxfordshire."

He added five new primary schools and five new secondary schools are set to open in the next four years.

GEMS Didcot Primary Academy opened this year, and two other schools - Aureas Secondary School and Chalkhill Primary School will open in the town by September 2018.

A new primary school is scheduled to open in Barton in September, as will Gagle Brook Primary School in Bicester and a primary in Longford Park, Banbury.

A new free secondary school, The Swan School, is set to open in Oxford in September 2018.

The DfE did not respond to a request for comment.