More children in Essex are not getting a place at any of their parents preferred choice of school, new figures reveal.
This morning, 16,100 parents in Essex will discover the outcome of their primary school place application - with those who applied online getting an email confirmation or heading to the council’s website.
Today’s figures show that 1.86% of parents were not offered any of their preferences, an increase on the 1.78% in 2018.
Jerry Glazier, secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) branch in Essex, said that primary school children should not be expected to travel far to reach their schools.
He said: “The statistics are starting to show that parents are not getting their preferred choices. This worries me that in Essex we don’t have the adequate supply of school places required.
“There is a lot of growth in Essex - especially in Colchester where a number of new housing developments are taking place - but we need to make sure that we have enough school places to support these new developments.
“The NEU believe that there should be a good local school in every community.”
The numbers of parents who were offered their second, third, or fourth preference school also declined, as shown in the graph.
However, 89.38% of parents have been offered their first choice - a rise from the 88.13% in 2018.
This means that 95.5% of children have been offered one of their top two schools and a total of 98% of pupils were offered one of their preferred schools.
Councillor Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “I’m thrilled that so many parents are being offered their preferred primary school place. Starting school is an exciting time in a child’s life and I wish all those starting in September the very best for the start of their school days.
“I would also like to pay tribute to the hard work of all council officers and school staff involved in this successful process.”
Suffolk’s figures are set to be released later on today, so check back to see how the results compare.
If you are disappointed with your offer there are a number of different options which we have explained in more detail here - including waiting lists, appealing the decision and applying for a different school.
Did you miss out on a place at your preferred school in either Suffolk or Essex? Get in touch with us here to share your story.
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