Independent Media | Campaigning Journalism
Proportion of children securing first-choice secondary school place falls
The proportion of pupils gaining places at their first-choice secondary school has fallen, figures show.
Nearly a fifth of children have missed out on their top choice of secondary school, rising to more than two in five pupils in some areas of England, according to data from the Department for Education (DfE).
It comes as the number of applications to secondary schools in England rose by 0.8% to just over 605,200.
Figures show that 81.1% of children starting secondary school this September received an offer from their first-choice school, down from 82.2% last year.
Slough had the lowest proportion of families getting their top choice at just 56.1%, followed by Hammersmith and Fulham (57.3%) and Richmond upon Thames (59.8%) in London.
Read on...
The DfE said the figure will have been affected by the delay to the selective school tests due to the pandemic.
In some local authorities – including Slough – parents could name selective schools on the application form when their child may not have reached the standard required for an offer.
The statistics show that the proportion of children securing their preferred primary school has increased, from 90.2% in 2020 to 91.8% this year.
The number of applications to primary schools in England has dropped by 5.1% to around 580,700.
We need your help to keep speaking the truth
Every story that you have come to us with; each injustice you have asked us to investigate; every campaign we have fought; each of your unheard voices we amplified; we do this for you. We are making a difference on your behalf.
Our fight is your fight. You’ve supported our collective struggle every time you gave us a like; and every time you shared our work across social media. Now we need you to support us with a monthly donation.
We have published nearly 2,000 articles and over 50 films in 2021. And we want to do this and more in 2022 but we don’t have enough money to go on at this pace. So, if you value our work and want us to continue then please join us and be part of The Canary family.
In return, you get:
* Advert free reading experience
* Quarterly group video call with the Editor-in-Chief
* Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
* 20% discount in our shop
Almost all of our spending goes to the people who make The Canary’s content. So your contribution directly supports our writers and enables us to continue to do what we do: speaking truth, powered by you. We have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence our vital opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right-wing mainstream media.
With your help we can continue:
* Holding political and state power to account
* Advocating for the people the system marginalises
* Being a media outlet that upholds the highest standards
* Campaigning on the issues others won’t
* Putting your lives central to everything we do
We are a drop of truth in an ocean of deceit. But we can’t do this without your support. So please, can you help us continue the fight?
Support us -
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
Which indicates….?
What are the messages here? That we don’t have a properly funded egalitarian system like Finland, where all schools are equally good?
Or indeed like the UK used to have before league tables and suchlike. Ridiculous state of affairs isn’t it?
When I was of school age you went to the local primary school and then to whichever secondary school you were in the catchment area for.
I hadn’t realised that marketisation of education had got this bad!
This is UKania where everything is for sale. The NHS, eg., has been disbanded in favour of the National Covid Service for the toffs to extract billions from…..my advice is to keep an eye on your grandmother………