Thousands of Leeds children to attend their first preference secondary school

Families applying for their child’s secondary school place have been finding out which school their child has been allocated for September 2016.

Over 6850 children will be attending their first preference school in September and overall, 95 per cent will attend one of their top five preferences. This year Leeds City Council has allocated 8341 year seven places, which is around 380 more than last year.

The number of children not getting any of their five preferences at secondary school was only 4.6 per cent. The council’s admissions team is now working hard with families to agree alternative places for all children who did not get any of their preferences. Families are recommended to always include their nearest school as one of their preferences and to make sure they use all five preferences to get the best chance of being offered a preferred school.

The importance of applying before the deadline has also been highlighted as this year there were 253 late applications and only 64 of those were able to be offered their first preference school.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive member for children and families said:

“For parents and carers, choosing a secondary school for their children is an incredibly important decision and I am pleased that we have been able to offer the majority of young people their first preference school.

“Our admissions team will now work closely with schools and families to find alternative places for those children who did not get any of their preferences or who refuse their allocated place.”

Parents now have until 11 March 2016 to accept or refuse the offers and request a waiting list place.

The complete secondary admissions figures for September 2015/16:

6858 children were given their 1^st preference (82%) (6603 last year)

763 children were given their 2^nd preference (745 last year)

241 children were given their 3^rd preference (192 last year)

72 children were given their 4^th preference (50 last year)

25 children were given their 5^th preference (15 last year)