March 1, 2019 10.53 am This story is over 60 months old

Most county children get first choice secondary school

There will be no-one without an offer
| Photo: Stock image

Nearly 90% of children in Lincolnshire have been offered their first choice of secondary school.

Offers for places starting in September have been sent to the parents.

Of the 8,296 offers made to Lincolnshire secondary schools 88.6% (7,346) of children will receive their first preference school.

The figure for second preference offers is 7.9% (656 children).

The third preference offer figure is 1.2% (102).

Only 2.3% of children (192) will be offered a local school that isn’t one of their preferences.

All children who haven’t got their preferred school will be offered a place at another one – the closest to their home with spaces available. This means there will be no-one without an offer.

It is normal for the percentage of first preferences to increase by the time children start in September because of appeals and movement on the reserve list.

Parents have until March 29 to lodge an appeal if they are unhappy with the offered school.

Any appeal form returned by the deadline will be heard before the end of the summer term, but if it is late this will be in the last week of term or even in September.

Councillor Patricia Bradwell, Executive Councillor for Children’s Services at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “It’s 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.”