One in six pupils miss out on top school choice

Official admissions data for England’s schools has shown that around one in six children did not receive an offer from their first choice of secondary school.

Nonetheless, the figure was a slight improvement on last year, where 84.1 per cent of pupils got into their first choice school, compared to 84.2 per cent this year. The figures also highlighted that 87.8 per cent of parents got their first pick of primary schools, compared to 88.4 per cent last year.

In particular the data revealed that state secondary schools were having to accommodate for a rising number of pupils, increasing by 2.8 per cent.

Gateshead was identified as the area which saw the biggest fall in parents getting their first choice of secondary school, decreasing from 91.5 per cent in 2015 to 82.8 per cent.

The data showed that 3.5 per cent of parents did not get any of their preferences for secondary school, while 3.1 per cent missed out on all their choices of primary school. In London, many boroughs maintained the lowest first preference rates for schools in England, with Hammersmith achieving just 52 per cent and Westminster gaining 53 per cent.

Contrastingly, 99 per cent of families in Northumberland and Central Bedfordshire got their first choice of school.

Roy Perry, chairman of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said: "While councils have a statutory duty to ensure every child has a school place available to them, they find themselves in the difficult position of not being able to ensure schools, including academies, expand."

A Department for Education spokeswoman commented: “The vast majority of pupils were offered a place at their first choice school and more than 95 per cent received offers from one of their top three choices.”