Hundreds miss out on first choice of school (From Bournemouth Echo)

Hundreds miss out on first choice of school

8:00am Tuesday 2nd March 2010 in

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HUNDREDS of schoolchildren in Dorset will discover today that they have missed out on a place at their first choice school.

Letters will arrive at homes across the county revealing to anxious parents which schools their children have succeeded in securing a place.

In Bournemouth 75 per cent of children will receive an offer of a place at their preferred school – an increase of four per cent on last year.

Neil Goddard, the borough’s director for children’s strategic services, said: “We understand there will be a number of eager families waiting to find out, and informing parents is our number one priority.

“As of today parents should receive their notification letters which were posted first class yesterday. This year we have seen an increase, compared with last year, in the number of children being offered their first choice.”

In Poole, where 1,159 applications were received, 74.4 per cent of parents who live in the borough achieved a place at their preferred school – up from 69.9 per cent last year.

Beryl Stokes, strategy manager for the borough, said there has also been an increase in the number of parents being offered one of their three preferred schools from 87.6 per cent last year to 91.3 per cent this year. Letters were posted first class yesterday.

She added: “We would urge parents to wait until they have received their letter before calling the admissions team should they have any queries.”

Dorset County Council said an impressive 93 per cent of 11-year-olds have been offered a place at their first choice. And 96 per cent of 13-year-olds have secured their preferred school in the county.

Parents whose children lost out on a place at their top choice school will now have to begin the lengthy appeals process in a bid to challenge decisions made by their local authorities.

Competition for places has been high again this year due to fewer families sending their children to private schools.

Popular Twynham School in Christchurch received 580 applications for just 240 places for year seven starting in September.