Region’s most over-subscribed schools revealed
THREE-FIFTHS of parents missed out on their first choice of Birmingham’s most popular school this year.
Just 43 per cent of those who put Harborne Primary School as their first choice secured a place for this September.
The school, in Station Road, had 2.2 first preference applications (196 in total) for each of its 90 places. In total there were 4.9 preferences for each place, but just four people who put the school as a second and two who put it as third preference got a place.
It was even harder to get a place at the Royal School, Wol- verhampton, in Wolverhampton, with 2.2 first preferences for every place offered, and just 41 per cent of those who put the school as their first choice getting a place.
Handsworth Grammar School was the hardest Birmingham secondary school to get into, with just 16 per cent of those who put it as a first preference getting a place.
There were 1.3 first preferences, a total of 188, for each of its 145 places offered.
Overall there were 4.2 preferences for each place for children starting this September.
At King Edward VI Five Ways School, just 25 per cent of those who put the school as a first preference got a place, while it was 30 per cent at the University of Birmingham School.
The secondary school results make the Royal School, Wolverhampton, the toughest school in England to get a place. There were a total of 21.4 preferences for each place, and 8.9 first preferences per place, with just 11 per cent of those who put it as a first choice offered a place.
Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes was the toughest primary school in the country to get a place at. Just 24 per cent of those who put it as a first preference secured a place in 2017. It had 4.2 first preferences, 100 in total, for each of the 24 places offered, and 11.2 preferences per places in total.
The data from the Department for Education is based on figures from National Offers Day, so data held directly by individual schools may differ, for example, because late applications were included. The application deadline for applying for a reception place is January 15, 2018, while it is October 31, for secondary applications.