Most Leicester and Leicestershire pupils secure place at preferred secondary school

The majority of pupils in Leicestershire have secured places at one of their top choice secondary schools.

This week, Year Six pupils across the county have found out which school they will be attending in September.

Both Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council said the vast majority of those pupils received a place in a school they had listed as a preferred choice in their applications. The city council also said it had a record number of pupils this year who will be attending a city school.

In Leicester, 4,370 out of 4,726 pupils were offered a place at a city school. This is compared to 3,541 in 2016 and is the eighth consecutive year where that number has increased, the city council said. Some 94.7 per cent were offered a place at one of their top four schools.

Of the city pupils seeking a place, 3830 (81 per cent) gained a place at their first-choice school. A further 507 (10.7 per cent) got their second preference, 115 (2.4 per cent) their third preference and 23 (0.5 per cent) their fourth preference.

In the county, more than 98 per cent of those who applied got one of their top three choices, the county council said. Of the 7,635 applications received by the local authority this year, 6,964 (91.2 per cent) were offered a place at their first choice school, 433 (5.7 per cent) their second and 107 (1.4 per cent) their third. The remaining 131 (1.7 per cent) were “allocated a place at their nearest available school”, the authority said.

Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for education, said: “I’m really pleased to see that the vast majority of applicants for a city school gained a place at one of their preferred schools, with most getting their first choice.

“We know starting secondary school can be an anxious time for families, and we do all we can to make the applications process as straightforward as possible while meeting increased demand. Despite making a record number of offers of places within city secondary schools, we have made sure that, once again, no-one who applies on time is without a place.”

Councillor Deborah Taylor, lead member for children and families at Leicestershire County Council, said: “The majority of young people, around nine out of ten, will be attending their first choice of Leicestershire secondary school when they start Year 7 this autumn. Last year’s figures were also encouraging but the percentage of young people securing a first choice or preferred choice of schools is even higher this year, which is great news.

“If you applied and wish to accept your offer, you don’t need to do anything else. While we do our best to offer families their preferred places, there are a small number of cases where this hasn’t been possible. In these cases, pupils will have had an offer for their nearest school with available places.”