More than 8,000 Nottinghamshire parents get first-choice primary school place for their child

In total, 8,204 parents got their first choice and although this indicates a slight decrease compared with last year, it was still a success rate of more than 92 per cent.

Nottinghamshire County Council contacted 8,881 Nottinghamshire parents to let them know which school their son or daughter will be attending this September.

A further 745 applications were received from residents outside of the county for primary school places within Nottinghamshire.

More than 98 per cent of Nottinghamshire residents were offered one of their preferences, again a slight decrease in the number of parents making more than one preference, compared to last year.

However, 3,115 parents – 35 per cent – only put one preference on their application.

In total, 139 applicants (1.6 per cent) received alternative offers – where applicants are offered a place at a school they didn’t include on their application – and 81 (58.3 per cent) of these parents only stated one preference

Of the 745 applications received from residents outside of Nottinghamshire for primary school places within the county, 317 (42.6 per cent) were allocated places.

The council said it had done all it could to try and ensure that parents send their child to a school they wanted.Coun Philip Owen, chairman of the council’s children and young people’s committee, said: “The situation is encouraging as more than 92 per cent of Nottinghamshire parents secured their first preference and the majority of parents will be getting a place at one of the schools for which they made a preference.“I am pleased that every child in Nottinghamshire, whose parents applied before the deadline, will have a primary school place in September 2020.“The council has worked hard in recent years to respond to the increasing demand for primary school places.“Late applicants can be assured that a school place would be available for their child in September 2020.

“The waiting list applies to all on-time unsuccessful applications, late applications and changes to preferences.“Unfortunately, popular schools will always be over-subscribed and whatever the admissions criteria are for those schools, the likelihood is that there will be some disappointed families.”Parents have the right to appeal about their child’s school place and all appeals are wholly independent.For further information on primary admissions, click here.