Pressure rises on top choice of admissions

RISING NUMBERS of children could miss out on their top choice of secondary school today, analysis suggests, as pressure mounts for local authorities.

Up to 115,000 young people across England are expected to not be offered their first choice, the Good Schools Guide has claimed, with an additional 23,000 children seeking a secondary school place.

The analysis follows five years of falling rates when it comes to first choice offers.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “There is intense pressure on secondary school places in some areas of the country for schools rated by Ofsted as ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ and this results in parents missing out on their preferred choice.

“This situation will become more challenging because the number of pupils in secondary schools is rising and is expected to increase by 428,000 over the next seven years.”

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb added: “Today is a significant milestone for thousands of parents and children finding out which secondary school they will be attending from September. This Government is determined to create more choice for parents when it comes to their children’s education and we have created 825,000 school places since 2010, and are on track to see that number rise to a million by 2020.”