Nearly half of parents miss places at most popular school

NEARLY half of all parents did not get their first choice when applying for their children’s places at Staffordshire’s most popular school this year.

The most popular school in Burton was Shobnall Primary Academy, where just 61.2 per cent of parents who picked it as their first choice got a place for their child. A total of 67.5 per cent got a firstchoice place at The Mosley Academy.

Our exclusive figures show the most popular school in Staffordshire, with 56 per cent, was Thomas Barnes Primary School, in Tamworth.

The school had the equivalent of 1.8 first preference applications for each of the 15 places offered – 27 in total. Of those who put the school as their first pick, only 15 were successful.

Including second and third preferences, there were 3.9 applications for each offered place, but no-one who put the school as a second or third choice secured a place.

If you want to know how many applications there were for a place at a school in your area, you can use our interactive tool to explore how successful people applying were this September, for both primary and secondary schools.

Go to www.staffordshire-live. co.uk/news/local-news/ staffordshires-schools-rankedmost-least-5902104

Poppyfield Primary Academy, in Cannock, was the next-hardest Staffordshire primary to get into, with just 58 per cent of those who put it as a first preference getting a place.

There were 1.7 first preferences for the school, a total of 48, for each of its 29 places offered. Codsall Middle School was the hardest secondary school to secure a place at locally.

The school had 1.2 first preferences for each of the 25 places offered, with just 57 per cent of those who put the school as their first choice getting a place.

Overall, the secondary school was put down as a preference 115 times, with two second and one third preference being successful.

Erasmus Darwin Academy, in Burntwood, saw 283 first preferences for 182 places offered – 1.6 per place – with just 64 per cent of parents who put it as a first choice being offered a place.

With children returning to school for the new year, applications for places for those set to start primary or secondary school next September are starting to open.

The application deadline for applying for a secondary place is October 31, while it is January 15, 2022, for primary applications.

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.