Families to hear school choice news

As admissions letters land on the doormats of half a million 11-year-olds, it could spell heartache for thousands who will not go to their preferred secondary school in September.

Competition for places is likely to be most keenly felt in the counties which still have grammar schools, and in many areas of England children will be forced to accept places at the second or even third choice of school.

A poll of 59 local authorities in England conducted by the Guardian found that about one in six pupils failed to gain admittance to their first choice of school. This means that almost 100,000 11-year-olds will have to settle for their second, or even third choice.

It was also revealed that more than 25,000 children in London failed to win a place at their first-choice school. Figures released by the Pan-London Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme showed more than a third of the 78,180 pupils due to start secondary school in the capital in September were not offered a place at their favoured school.

A total of 66.05% of youngsters across the 33 boroughs will go to their first-choice school, while 94% of youngsters were given a place at one of their six preferences and 87% were offered one of their top three choices, the admissions scheme said.

Children who have not been allocated a place at one of their chosen schools have either been offered an alternative or will shortly be advised of their options, it added.

The figures were revealed as education experts said schools should have their powers to set their own admissions criteria withdrawn.

Under current rules, faith schools, voluntary aided schools and academies can decide on their own rules.

But a report commissioned by the Research and Information on State Education trust (Rise) has concluded that some of these schools are still asking questions of parents that are unrelated to the admissions criteria and could be used to pick and choose pupils.