Nervous parents discovering today if children have secured first choice secondary school
Nervous parents were today finding out whether their child has secured a place at their chosen secondary school.
Today is 'National Offer Day', where parents and children find out which secondary school they will be attending from September.
In Telford & Wrekin, 81.1 per cent of applicants were lucky enough to secure their first preference, while in the Shropshire Council catchment 89.7 per cent were offered their first choice.
For Telford there were 2,396 on-time applications – 1,942 or 81.1 per cent, received their first preference, 277 or 11.6 per cent secured their second preference, 54 or 2.3 per cent got their third preference, and 16 or 0.7 per cent received their fourth preference.
It means 454 pupils were not able to secure their first choice.
For Shropshire Council, 2,974 on time applications were received – with 2,667 or 89.7 per cent securing their first choice, 225 or 7.6 per cent getting their second option, 37 or 1.2 per cent being awarded their third choice, and 49 or 1.6 per cent given an 'alternative choice'.
It means 307 were not awarded their first choice.
Councillor Eileen Callear, Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for education, employment and visitor economy said: “We are delighted that this is another year when so many parents and carers – over 95 per cent – have secured places for their children at one of their preferred secondary schools and when every single applicant has received a school place offer.
“This is also credit to our council’s significant investment to expand schools’ capacity across the borough by hundreds of places.
“Over the past ten years, we have rebuilt and refurbished every secondary school in our borough to create more school places. We are committed to drive this investment forward over the coming years as well, so even more youngsters can attend their preferred local secondary school and benefit from modern spaces for growth and learning.”
Kirstie Hurst-Knight, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for children and education, said: “At this stage in the 2024 admissions process, we’re 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 98 per cent of Shropshire parents have been offered a place at one of their preferred schools.”
Telford & Wrekin Council said that throughout today it will be notifying parents and carers by e-mail of their secondary school application outcome.
To view their secondary school offer, parents and carers can also log on the Parent Portal account on the council’s website education.telford.gov.uk/Live/SynergyWeb/Parents/default.aspx
The council added that parents and carers whose children have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) have already been informed of their offered secondary school.
