"What am I gonna do," asks a harried Scots mother, laden with four school bags and two kids in tow. "Walk?"

It was a vexed question for those at the gate of one of Sydney's most exclusive private schools on Friday, and one brought into sharp relief in Bellevue Hill by the NSW Land and Environment Court this week.

A car is told to move on after stopping in the middle of Kambala Road during after-school pick-up at Scots College on Friday. Credit:Fiona Morris

Scots College lost its legal bid to expand its preparatory school by converting a Kambala Road house into an early learning centre - and some of the school's parents were the reason for its loss.

Although the Land and Environment Court found Woollahra Council's planning controls were no grounds to reject the application, the "uncontrollable unsafe behaviour" of parents was another story.