More than nine in 10 Notts parents happy with the primary school where their child has been placed, council says

More than 90 per cent of mums and dads have secured a place at their first preferred primary school for their children in September 2018.
Mums and dads find out today whether their child will be going to the school they chose come September.Mums and dads find out today whether their child will be going to the school they chose come September.
Mums and dads find out today whether their child will be going to the school they chose come September.

This indicates an increase in the number of parents receiving an offer of their first preference school for their child, Nottinghamshire County Council says.

The local authority has today (Monday, April 16) contacted 8,789 parents to let them know which school their son or daughter is to attend from September.

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This year shows a decrease in the number of applications received before the closing date but an increase in the percentage of parents who have got a place at one of their preferred schools – 98.7%. Of the remainder, 110 (1.3% of applicants) have been offered a place at a school they didn’t include on their application. A total of 67.3% of these parents only made a single preference.

The County Council said it had done all it could to ensure that parents send their child to a school they wanted.

Councillor Philip Owen said: “The situation as a whole continues to be encouraging as the majority of parents will be getting a school for which they made a preference.

"I am very happy that every child in Nottinghamshire whose parents applied before the deadline will have a primary school place in September 2018.”

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“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,” continued Councillor Owen.

“As an authority, we aren’t complacent as we’re aware of the pressures within the system and the forecast number of children coming through.

“We have a statutory duty to ensure we have sufficient school places across all schools, irrespective of whether they are academies, local authority maintained or otherwise governed. And we continue to make plans to deal with these continued pressures in the years to come.”

For the 2017/18 academic year 231 extra school places were created across Nottinghamshire at a cost of £4.3m.

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Councillor Owen added: “The council has also earmarked more than £20m for school place planning for the coming year and is currently undertaking feasibility studies with the aim of creating several hundred additional places by 2020/21.”

Service director for education Marion Clay also assured late applicants that a school place would be available for their child this September: “The waiting list applies to all on-time unsuccessful applications, late applications and changes to preferences."

If a parent has been refused a place at a preferred school they have a right to appeal against the decision. All appeals are wholly independent. For information about appeals parents can visit www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk or contact 0300 500 80 80 for more advice.