Up to one in five infants in some parts of England have missed out on their top choice of primary school this year, with the picture even worse in some parts of London.
However, strenuous efforts by local authorities to add more classrooms appear to have headed off a serious shortage of places.
Based on figures compiled by the Guardian from 108 local authorities on national offer day, nearly 87% of more than 600,000 parents were offered their first choice of primary school for their children – a marginal fall compared with 2014 despite a pronounced increase in the numbers applying.
Nationally, the rise in the number of children applying to start school – caused by a spike in the birth rate in recent years – has placed great pressure on councils to meet demand for reception classes for four- and five-year-olds. But fears of widespread shortage appear to have been averted, with around 80,000 children missing out on their first choice, a figure similar to last year’s.
Data from Hertfordshire county council shows that 81% of youngsters got their preferred school. London Councils, the local government association for Greater London, also said that just under 81% of pupils got their first-choice school – despite a record 103,387 applications for places being made.
London remains the most difficult region for families to secure their top choice of state school, while Kensington and Chelsea was by a considerable distance the most competitive in the country.
Just 59% of families in Kensington and Chelsea received their first choice of school, compared with 61% last year. One in six applicants in the royal borough did not receive an offer to any of their six named schools. The neighbouring west London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham was next lowest, with just three out of four families being offered their first choice of school.
Helen Jenner, chair of the Pan-London Admissions Board (PLAB), said: “The fact that 81% of pupils have been offered their first preference, even though boroughs received 900 more applications this year, reflects how proficient the London system is at matching places with pupils.
“It is also testimony to the hard work boroughs have been doing with local schools to expand provision in recent years.”
In the rest of England, Reading was the worst-affected local authority, thanks in part to inward migration and a rapid rise in the birth rate. Just 75% of families received their first choice of school, although the council found school places for the remainder.
John Ennis, Reading’s lead councillor for education, said the council’s efforts to expand schools had allowed it to accommodate a 34% increase in the number of children aged under five since 2001.
“Our £61m investment in new places means every child in Reading has again been offered a school place this year, despite a record number of applications,” Ennis said.
Birmingham – the largest local authority in England – was among the councils that struggled, with fewer than 85% of families receiving their first choice of primary school for their children, a drop of three percentage points compared with last year.
More than 5% of the 16,000 applicants in Birmingham were offered places in schools outside the city’s boundaries, compared with 4% of a slightly smaller pool of applicants last year.
The national crunch comes as a result of a sharp increase in the birth rate in recent years, with 2011 seeing more than 700,000 live births in the UK, a rise of 200,000 compared with 10 years before.
Manchester reported that it had received more than 7,000 applications for reception class places in September, a rise of 250 from 2014 and more than 2,000 more than it received in 2008.
“We have been able to offer the first preferences to the vast majority of parents despite the fact that the number of applications we have received has grown significantly over the last few years,” said John Edwards, Manchester city council’s director of education.
Many local authorities managed to do better than last year, especially those, such as Brighton and Hove, where the number of four-year-olds remained similar to 2014. As a result, the percentage of successful first choices rose five percentage points to 88%.
Patrick Leeson of Kent county council attributed to his council’s improved performance its efforts in creating hundreds of new places, but admitted that problems remained.
“We will not lose sight of the fact that 4% of pupils have not been given a school from their preferences. While many will secure places through waiting lists and reallocation, I am aware that this will be a difficult time, and we will do what we can to offer a good outcome,” Leeson said.
The Local Government Association has warned that councils face a repeated struggle to keep up with demand for school places between now and 2018, and has called for a £12bn investment by the next government.
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “Since 2011, the powers of local authorities in planning school places have been significantly reduced without an alternative system to take their place. We have a balkanised system, with authorities, academies and central government taking decisions in isolation.”
The PLAB’s Helen Jenner warned: “As London’s pupil population continues to grow, creating more places will become increasingly difficult. Long-term planning and funding is needed to help avert a crisis in the future.”
