More than 100 more pupils in Nottingham have received their first choice of secondary school for September this year – despite a larger number of applications than 2022.
On National Offer Day yesterday (Wednesday), the City Council was able to inform parents and carers of 2,946 children that they have secured a place at their preferred school. This compares with 2,778 for 2022, despite there being 86 more applications this year.
An offer has been made to every child who applied on time, so nobody is without a place.
Second preferences were also up by 21 – from 357 in 2022 to 378 in 2023 – meaning that 88 per cent of pupils got a first or second choice, compared with 85 per cent last time.
With all secondary schools in the city now academies, the Council’s role is to facilitate the applications process but headteachers and governors make the final decision on which pupils they admit.
Parents and carers apply to the authority, the requests are collated and sent to academies who then inform which have been successful. Emails were sent out this morning, while letters have been issued where they were requested instead.
Council officers will continue to help parents and carers over the coming days with any questions they may have, or support with the appeal process where necessary.
Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools at Nottingham City Council, said: “It’s been another challenging year and I’m delighted that every child has been offered a place, with more than a hundred more first-choices than last year.
“This is especially welcome considering that we received almost 90 additional applications for September 2023, which is effectively the equivalent of a whole school year group at some city academies.
“That’s another significant increase and I’d like to thank parents and carers for applying on-time, and also our Admissions team for all their hard work. I hope current Year Six pupils are excited about moving up to secondary school next year.
“We have proven in terms of our primary school expansion programme our ability to increase capacity in the City and enable more parents to get a place at their preferred school. Our £40m investment in primary school capacity since 2009 has added 4,000 new places.
“Nottingham is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country and therefore it is essential that the Government funds the additional school capacity that we need for Nottingham children, particularly as they move to secondary education.”