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Wales Online

National

Abbie Wightwick

These are the hardest secondary schools to get into in Cardiff this year

Cardiff (Geopolitical Entity)

The most in demand secondary schools in Cardiff have been revealed in the latest statistics.

Ten maintained secondary schools in the city had more applications than places to start this September. Three were so oversubscribed they had to turn away some children living in their catchment area.

In total 869 children have not got into their first choice secondary in Cardiff for September.

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Parents have now been told if their children have places for September. They have until March 15 to accept offers. Anyone wanting to appeal must do so by March 29.

Cardiff High was once again the most oversubscribed maintained secondary in the city. It had to turn down 379 applications compared with 336 last year. It currently accepts 240 children every year but received a massive 619 applications this year.

The second most popular school was Fitzalan High. It had 173 more applications than spaces to offer. Radyr Comprehensive received 384 applications for 240 spaces.

Cardiff High, Eastern High and Fitzalan High all turned away some applicants living in their catchment areas. Two schools had fewer applicants than places.

The list, from Cardiff Council, does not include applications and offers to Whitchurch High or the city’s religious secondary schools – Corpus Christi, Bishop of Llandaff, St Teilo’s, Mary Immaculate, and St Illtyd’s. Applications to some of these are not done through the same process as applications to maintained secondary schools. Offers from these schools are due imminently.

Cardiff Council said the city is entering a spike in demand for secondary school places and it is acting to address that.

There are still 152 school places across the city after the initial offers. Places may free up as some receive offers from faith schools or Whitchurch High.

Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry said: “The city is entering into a peak of secondary school demand for places and therefore we have taken measures across the city to reduce pressures where possible.

“Currently there are still 152 places still available across the city after the initial offers and 292 duplicate offers in the system being held across the city.

“Therefore, a potential 444 available places will be released into the system for reallocation during the next round of offers, as those parents who applied for faith schools and may have more than one offer, decide which they would prefer and release places into the system for reallocation”

She said she realised some people won’t be happy.

“I sympathise with those who have not received the offer they would have liked, however this is only the first round of offers and places will be released into the system for reallocation, as parents who applied for faith schools decide which place to take up.

“The trend of improvement across Cardiff schools continues, and although the council recognises that some schools are more popular with parents than others at the moment, a more even demand for places is being created for the future.”

Parents can apply for up to five schools. The council said that in this first round of applications 92.5% of applicants had got a place at one of their five stated preferences and 92.7% of children applying for a community secondary school place have been offered one of their top three choices.

That may change after March 15 when a clearer indication of places at each school will be available following confirmation of all places accepted at community and faith schools.

The 2nd round of offers will be released on April 14 and the third at end of May. There will also be further rounds at the end of each month through to September if places become available through issues such as people dropping out.