Five out of six get top school
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A total of 94.6% received an offer from one of their top three choices according to government figures - another slight rise of 0.6.
Almost 92,000 did not get their first choice and 3.8% did not get an offer from any of their chosen schools.
Families learned of their child's allocation by letter or online last week.
The picture varies greatly across England. In London as a whole, about two thirds (65.9%) of families got their first choice. In some boroughs the figure was closer to 50%.
However, the government points out that across the capital, more than 93% of pupils were offered a place at one of their chosen schools.
Click here for a full list for England
Competition for places was also intense in Birmingham, where 67.9% of 11-year-olds got their first choice.
Regional variations
Looking across the English regions, the North East has the highest proportion - with 93% getting their top choice.
In Bedfordshire, almost all - 97% - of families were offered a place at their first choice school. In East Sussex, 87.7% did so, in Hampshire, 92.5%, in Northumberland, 97.4%.
In Cornwall, 97.1% of families got their first preference. In Leeds, the proportion was 85.3%, in Leicestershire it was 96.3%.
In Buckinghamshire, which has a high number of grammar schools, just over half (53.3%) were allocated a place at their first choice. In Slough, which also has grammars, just 41.7% had an offer from their top choice school.
In Kent, which also has a number of grammar schools, 78.4% received their first choice. There, parents know if their child has passed the 11-plus exam to enter a grammar school before they make their choices.
There were marked regional variations also in the proportion of families not being offered any of the schools they had expressed a preference for.
London boroughs scored worst on this. In Richmond-on-Thames, 12.7% did not get such an offer, in Kensington and Chelsea, the figure was 11.9%, in Barnet, 11.2% and in Bromley 10.9%.
Areas which performed best on this included Stockton-on-Tees (0.2%), the Isle of Wight (0.0%), Cornwall (0.6%) and Harrow (0.0%).
UK picuture
The rest of the UK does not have an equivalent national "offer day" when all children learn where they will be going in the autumn and practice varies on collecting statistics.
In Scotland the most recent figures - on "placing requests" for 2007-08 - are due to be published next Wednesday.
In 2006-07, 28,645 families made requests for specific schools of all stages and, after appeals, 85% were granted.
In Wales, the assembly government says it does not collect such information.
Schools Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said changes to the Admissions Code - which sets out how schools should admit pupils - had made the system fairer.
"The Schools Admissions Code has transformed the admissions system," she said.
"We have outlawed unfair and covert admission practices which disadvantaged low-income families and increased social segregation.
"We have extended the role of the independent Schools Adjudicator allowing him to look into any admission arrangements that parents feel are unfair or overly complicated as well as requiring him to monitor compliance and report annually to the secretary of state."
Secretary of State Ed Balls recently announced he was asking the adjudicator to look into the use of lotteries, or random allocation, as the system is known.
They should only be used as a last resort, he said.
'Disappointed'
Shadow Schools Secretary Nick Gibb said: "These figures clearly show us that England does not have enough good schools.
"The government will not give teachers the power they need to keep order, will not give them the power they need to search for dangerous items, and will not give heads the power they need over pay and conditions to attract and keep great teachers in poorer areas.
"At the moment so many parents are disappointed, including up to a third of those in London, because there are simply too few schools judged to be of good quality. We will change this."
Liberal Democrat children's spokeswoman Annette Brooke said: "The only way to end this annual scramble for good school places is to raise standards in those schools which are underperforming.
"While such huge variations in school performance persist across small areas, it is inevitable that 'good' schools will be oversubscribed and that some pupils will lose out."
Margaret Morrissey of lobby group Parents Outloud said: "I still think we've got a long way to go. Over 83% have got their first choice, but it remains that there's still 17% who haven't, and 17% is an awful lot of children.
Five out of six get top school
| |
A total of 94.6% received an offer from one of their top three choices according to government figures - another slight rise of 0.6.
Almost 92,000 did not get their first choice and 3.8% did not get an offer from any of their chosen schools.
Families learned of their child's allocation by letter or online last week.
The picture varies greatly across England. In London as a whole, about two thirds (65.9%) of families got their first choice. In some boroughs the figure was closer to 50%.
However, the government points out that across the capital, more than 93% of pupils were offered a place at one of their chosen schools.
Click here for a full list for England
Competition for places was also intense in Birmingham, where 67.9% of 11-year-olds got their first choice.
Regional variations
Looking across the English regions, the North East has the highest proportion - with 93% getting their top choice.
In Bedfordshire, almost all - 97% - of families were offered a place at their first choice school. In East Sussex, 87.7% did so, in Hampshire, 92.5%, in Northumberland, 97.4%.
In Cornwall, 97.1% of families got their first preference. In Leeds, the proportion was 85.3%, in Leicestershire it was 96.3%.
In Buckinghamshire, which has a high number of grammar schools, just over half (53.3%) were allocated a place at their first choice. In Slough, which also has grammars, just 41.7% had an offer from their top choice school.
In Kent, which also has a number of grammar schools, 78.4% received their first choice. There, parents know if their child has passed the 11-plus exam to enter a grammar school before they make their choices.
There were marked regional variations also in the proportion of families not being offered any of the schools they had expressed a preference for.
London boroughs scored worst on this. In Richmond-on-Thames, 12.7% did not get such an offer, in Kensington and Chelsea, the figure was 11.9%, in Barnet, 11.2% and in Bromley 10.9%.
Areas which performed best on this included Stockton-on-Tees (0.2%), the Isle of Wight (0.0%), Cornwall (0.6%) and Harrow (0.0%).
UK picuture
The rest of the UK does not have an equivalent national "offer day" when all children learn where they will be going in the autumn and practice varies on collecting statistics.
In Scotland the most recent figures - on "placing requests" for 2007-08 - are due to be published next Wednesday.
In 2006-07, 28,645 families made requests for specific schools of all stages and, after appeals, 85% were granted.
In Wales, the assembly government says it does not collect such information.
Schools Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry said changes to the Admissions Code - which sets out how schools should admit pupils - had made the system fairer.
"The Schools Admissions Code has transformed the admissions system," she said.
"We have outlawed unfair and covert admission practices which disadvantaged low-income families and increased social segregation.
"We have extended the role of the independent Schools Adjudicator allowing him to look into any admission arrangements that parents feel are unfair or overly complicated as well as requiring him to monitor compliance and report annually to the secretary of state."
Secretary of State Ed Balls recently announced he was asking the adjudicator to look into the use of lotteries, or random allocation, as the system is known.
They should only be used as a last resort, he said.
'Disappointed'
Shadow Schools Secretary Nick Gibb said: "These figures clearly show us that England does not have enough good schools.
"The government will not give teachers the power they need to keep order, will not give them the power they need to search for dangerous items, and will not give heads the power they need over pay and conditions to attract and keep great teachers in poorer areas.
"At the moment so many parents are disappointed, including up to a third of those in London, because there are simply too few schools judged to be of good quality. We will change this."
Liberal Democrat children's spokeswoman Annette Brooke said: "The only way to end this annual scramble for good school places is to raise standards in those schools which are underperforming.
"While such huge variations in school performance persist across small areas, it is inevitable that 'good' schools will be oversubscribed and that some pupils will lose out."
Margaret Morrissey of lobby group Parents Outloud said: "I still think we've got a long way to go. Over 83% have got their first choice, but it remains that there's still 17% who haven't, and 17% is an awful lot of children.
"For that 17% there's no consolation in the government patting themselves on the back and saying things have improved. Their lives have been devastated."
"For that 17% there's no consolation in the government patting themselves on the back and saying things have improved. Their lives have been devastated."
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