Shropshire parents find out whether their children have been given places at preferred primary schools

Shropshire Council has revealed that 95.6 per cent of children have been offered their first preference school.

Of the 2,667 children who applied on time for places at primary schools, 2,549 were offered their first choice. 

Meanwhile, Telford & Wrekin Council said it received 2,002 applications on time and that 1,867 applicants have been offered a place at their first-choice school.

Today (April 16) is National Offer Day when the allocations of school places to children across the country are made. 

10 children in the Shropshire Council area were allocated an alternative preference.

Figures for the Shropshire Council area: 

Allocated their 1st preference - 2,549 (95.6 per cent)

Allocated their 2nd preference - 89 (3.3 per cent)

Allocated their 3rd preference - 19 (0.7 per cent)

Allocated one of their preferences - 2, 657 (99.6 per cent)

Allocated an alternative preference - 10 (0.4 per cent)

Figures for the Telford & Wrekin Council area: 

Allocated their 1st preference - 1,867

Allocated their 2nd preference - 94

Allocated their 3rd preference - 13

Allocated one of their preferences - 4

Admissions manager at Shropshire Council Rachel Reynolds said: "At this stage in the admissions process, Shropshire is delighted that, as in previous years, a high percentage of pupils have been offered their first preference school.

"We’ve always met a high percentage of first preference requests and have always been ranked amongst the top three West Midlands authorities.

"Parents are invited to submit three preferences, and over 99 per cent of Shropshire parents have been offered a place at one of their preferred schools."

Telford & Wrekin Council cabinet member for education Councillor Shirley Reynolds added: "We have been able to offer 98.8 per cent of pupils one of their preferred primary school places, with a large majority being offered a place at the first choice. 

"This is great news and means we have again been able to maintain a very high number of children being offered a preferred place, similar to previous years.

"As a council, we are committed to providing more and more school places at both primary and secondary. In recent years, our council has been investing heavily in schools across the borough, expanding schools’ capacity by hundreds of places, to ensure every local child and young person can attend a local school and benefit from modern facilities.

"But we’ve also earmarked additional funding in this year’s budget to expand more schools and provide more places. This will help meet the growing demand as we welcome more families who are choosing to call Telford and Wrekin home."