THOUSANDS of children found out this week which primary school they will go to from September, with more than 93 per cent found places in their first choice of school.
In all 2,657 Barnsley children and their families were told this week which school they had been allocated, after applying with up to three choices.
Barnsley Council said 93.04 per cent of children were placed in their first choice of school - fractionally lower than last year’s figure.
Rachel Dickinson, executive director, said: “It is excellent news that 2,472 children were given their first choice of primary, which is very similar to last year’s figure of 93.15 per cent.
“Managing the applications has been a result of great partnership working between our schools admissions team and schools. This is a fantastic outcome for children in Barnsley and a great start in young children achieving their potential.”
The breakdown of figures for Barnsley is:
- 2,472 children (93.04 per cent) offered their first choice
- 112 children (4.2 per cent) offered their second choice
- 21 children (0.8 per cent) got their third choice
- 52 children (1.96 per cent) did not get any of their choices but have been allocated a school place by Barnsley Council’s school admissions team. This figure was down from 63 children (2.27 per cent) last year.
There were a number of late applications which will be processed this month.
“While it is good news that such a high percentage of applications got an offer of their first choice, the council recognises that not everybody got their first place,” she said.
“Some children and families may have received disappointing news today and we will support them in the next steps.”
Families who don’t want to accept the place offered need to contact the council’s school admissions team in writing within ten working days of receiving the offer.
Barnsley Council has to comply with the law that states there must not be more than 30 children in classes containing reception, year one and year two children.
Last year, 2,586 children (93.15 per cent) were offered their first choice, 104 children (3.75 per cent) were offered their second choice, 23 children (0.83 per cent) got their third choice of school.
A total of 63 children (2.27 per cent) did not get any of their choices but were allocated a school place by the council.
Secondary school places were allocated last month. Across Barnsley, more than 95 per cent of pupils were allocated their first choice of secondary school. This was also similar to last year’s figure, and was in contrast to national figures showing a sharp fall in the proportion of 11-year-olds securing a place at their first choice of school.
