Record numbers of children in Nottingham offered first or second choice of primary school

Exam hall
Exam hall

Nearly 95 per cent of Nottingham children will attend their first or second choice primary school in September.

Parents across the city today (Tuesday April 18) found out which school their child got into and a record 89 per cent will get into their first preference.

Figures show 3,345 children in the city, 89 per cent, will be going to their first choice school in September with 217, six per cent, going to their second choice.

The amount of children going to their first or second choice is up two per cent from last year.

Portfolio Holder for Education, Employment and Skills Labour councillor Sam Webster said: “A lot of hard work goes into making that happen and I’m really pleased to see this positive effect of the council’s forward planning.

“I’m delighted to see another increase in the number of children getting a place at their parents’ first or second-choice school for September.”

Every parent who could not be offered any of their preferences were instead offered a ‘mandatory’ place for their child at the nearest school.

Councillor Webster said: “Our ambition remains to ensure that all pupils in Nottingham attend a good school, close to home and our on-going expansion strategy means that we are creating more places to achieve this goal.

“We understand choosing a school for a child is one of the most important decisions that parents have to make and we will continue to ensure that process is as simple as possible.”

Councillor Webster thinks that the growth in pupil numbers will lead to an increase for local secondary schools.

He said: “I’d urge the government to lift the ban on councils building new schools. While our programme of expansions has dealt with growing numbers in primaries, our attention must now turn to creating additional secondary places.”