Almost 95% get place at preferred secondary school in Telford & Wrekin

Thousands of children in Telford and Wrekin will be offered places at secondary schools today, with almost 95% of children who applied on-time being offered a place at one of their preferred schools.

Today – 1 March – is National Offer Day, when children up and down the country will learn which secondary school they will attend for the 2019/20 academic year.

In Telford & Wrekin, 2,124 applications were received on time and every applicant who applied was offered a school place.

Of those, 1,748 (82.3 per cent) received their first preference, 177 (8.3 per cent) their second preference and 69 (3.2 per cent) their third preference.

Compared to last year, 84 more families secured a place at their highest preferred school.

In total 94.6 per cent of applicants were offered a place at one of their preferred schools, with the remaining 5.4 per cent offered alternative places.

The application process for school places is now entirely online, meaning parents can view their results on offer day, rather than having to wait for a letter to be posted out to them. The application process for the next year’s intake opens in early September.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds, Telford & Wrekin’s Cabinet Member for Employment, Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “We’re working hard, together with schools, to meet increasing demand.

“We’re providing more places and have made sure that, once again, no-one who applies on-time is without a place.

“We’ve also been able to offer the vast majority of applicants – 94.6 per cent, one of their preferences.

More than half of the 114 families who weren’t offered a place at one of their preferred schools had not used the four school preferences everyone is entitled to.

Councillor Reynolds added: “Putting down only one school doesn’t increase your chances of getting in there.  We strongly recommend that all families visit their local schools and then use all four preferences on their application form.”