More than 5,000 fail to get into top-choice secondary

New figures show that 983 children in the region are set to be sent to schools in September which they and their parents did not choose.

They were among 5,450 who were not allocated places at their first choice of secondary school.

Hundreds of thousands of children and parents across the country discovered yesterday whether they had secured places in any of the three secondary schools they selected. Letters from councils arrived in what has become known as National Offer Day.

The success rate of parents in the region varied depending on where they lived, with most education authorities in West Yorkshire delivering the highest number of rejections.

Overall more than one in 10 Yorkshire parents failed to get a place at their first choice school.

The worst results were in Bradford and Calderdale where more than one in five pupils did not get into their first choice.

More than 1,900 pupils were sent elsewhere in Bradford and around 330 children in the district have not been sent to any of their preferred options – although this figure represented less than five per cent of children applying this year.

More than one in seven parents in Kirklees and Leeds also missed out on their first choice school although both councils announced higher success rates than the previous year. In Leeds 97.3 per cent of pupils were allocated one of their preferred options meaning just over 200 pupils are to be sent to schools which they did not choose. In contrast, Wakefield had one of the region’s highest success rates with more than 96 per cent of applications securing a place at their first choice secondary.

Elsewhere in the region Barnsley, Doncaster, East Riding, North Yorkshire, Sheffield, Rotherham and York all had more than 90 per cent of parents getting into their first choice school.

Authorities across the region reported higher success rates in the number of parents getting children into one of their chosen schools compared with last year.

In Barnsley, the East Riding and York fewer than 10 pupils are set to be sent to a secondary which they did not choose.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for schools, Coun John Watson, said: “We are delighted that so many of our families have once again been able to gain their first preference from their choice of schools.

“As a local authority we work with schools across the county to make sure all of them deliver the highest standards of education so that families who are not given first preferences will nevertheless be able to send their children to good schools.”

Doncaster Council’s Cabinet member for the children and young people’s services, Coun Andrea Milner, said: “I’m delighted that virtually all of our children will be starting secondary school in September at a school they want to go to. For those people that are not happy with their decision letter, our school admissions team is on hand to work with families and offer support in identifying where alternative places are available.”

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people, Coun Olwen Jennings, said that while the figures were roughly comparable to last year’s, she was pleased that a higher percentage of pupils had been found a place at one of their three preferred schools. “We always work hard with schools to try to ensure that as many pupils as possible receive a place at a school of their choice,” she said.

Based on the results provided by 12 councils in the region, the Yorkshire Post can reveal that more than one in 10 pupils missed out on their first choice secondary but only around two per cent were rejected from all of their chosen options. National figures giving a breakdown of each council in the country are set to be published in two weeks time.

Last year nearly one in six children in England failed to gain a place at their first choice secondary school, according to Government figures. Results for applications by more than half-a-million children showed 83.2 per cent were offered a place at their preferred school in 2010, resulting in a refusal rate of 16.8 per cent – the same level as was recorded in March 2009.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “This is a stressful day for families as they wait to hear which school their child will attend, because the sad fact is there are not enough good schools delivering the academic standards demanded by parents.”

Mr Gibb said measures being introduced to improve pupil attainment and behaviour were designed “to give parents more genuine choice of a good school and to reduce the anxiety of finding a secondary school place”.