April 23, 2012 3.29 pm This story is over 142 months old

Increase in children applying for primary schools

More children: 95% of parents apply only for primary school places, and 92% got their first choice offer.

Almost 550 more children in Lincolnshire applied for primary school places this year, as more county families send their kids to school from September.

There are 549 more children wanting a school place than last year, and over 95% of parents applied online to pick up their offer on Monday, April 23.

Last year, only 60% of parents applied for a school place online.

A total of 169 children will be offered a local school that isn’t one of their preferences, compared to 134 last year.

Of the 7,541 offers made to primary schools, 6,969 (92.6%) children will receive their first preference school, compared to the 6,486 (92.8%) who got their first choice last year.

Some 309 (4.1%) got their second preference offers, compared to 306 (4.4%) in 2011, while third preference offers are 78 (1.0%), compared to 66 (0.9%) last year.

Parents have until May 14 to lodge an appeal if they are unhappy with the offered school.

If they return the appeal form by the deadline it will be heard before the end of term. If it is received late it will still be heard but this may be in the last week of term or even in September.

Because of appeals and movement on the reserve list, it is usual for the percentage of first preferences to increase by the time children start in September, the County Council said.

County Councillor Patricia Bradwell said: “It is always our intention to support as many parents as possible with their choice of school.

“There are many stories about how stressful the admissions process can be but every year the overwhelming majority of parents have no problems in gaining admission to the school of their choice.”

There are 276 primary schools in Lincolnshire, including 69 which use their own admissions authority and determine their own admissions.

The other 207 use the local authority admissions policy. This balance will change next year as more schools become academies.

Source: Lincolnshire County Council