The Labour Party, which wants councils to have more planning controls over creating new places, says that previous year 70% of local authorities saw an increase in the number of parents whose child did not get their first choice of school.
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Last year, 84,000 families did not get their preferred choice of secondary school – a rise of over 7,000 on the previous year – and experts have suggested that these figures could rise again this year, amid mounting pressure on school places.
In Buckinghamshire the shortfall is 1,983, while Trafford it is 1,213, in Kent it is 1,025, in Haringey, London, it is 992 and in Stockport it is 688.
“The Government is investing billions of pounds creating new schools and new school places and through our free schools programme we want to open 500 more new schools during the five years of this parliament”.
The independent appeal panel will consider whether the consequences for your child if they don’t get in to the school will be worse than the consequences for the school if accepting your child leads to overcrowding.
Last year, 94 per cent of pupils were allocated one of their three choices, with 5,194 – 86.48 per cent – allocated their first choice.
“How well the school admissions system works depends nearly entirely on where you live”, she said.
Sheffield Council is also commissioning two new secondary schools – one in the north east and one in the south west – to meet the increased demand for places.
Parents who applied online were able to log on to the council’s website in the early hours of Tuesday morning and find out which school their child had been allocated.
There are now four over subscribed secondary schools in Cornwall, with the remaining 27 schools all admitting all of their first preference applicants.
“Since opening in September 2014 the school has been welcomed into the local community and forged strong ties with many local groups”.
But like past year, 7.5% did not receive an offer from any of their preferences and will be given a place at an alternative school. Has your child missed out of their chosen school place? Now it’s more like 50%.
The admissions team is now busy processing primary school applications with offers due to go out to parents on April 18.
Fraudulent applications could involve parents providing the address of a relative – such as a grandparent – living closer to a favoured school, or renting a property near a particular school in order to ensure their child is in the catchment area.
The Local Government Association, which represents 370 councils, has said its members may not be able to deliver sufficient places in future because their power to open new schools has been removed.
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Growing number of parents are mounting legal challenges to refusals.
