More than 15,000 families have been offered their first preference primary school for September.
Kent County Council says 15,426 families were offered their first preference school, which accounts for almost 90% of all applications.A total of 16,843 families were offered one of their three preferences.
Some 390 children were assigned a school by the authority after not succeeding in their preference. This is a reduction of over half since 2012 when 818 children required a local authority allocation to a school with places.
Roger Gough, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “Following a successful Secondary National Offer Day, officers have continued to work hard to ensure that as many pupils secured one of their preferred Primary schools and we are pleased to see the continued improvement in figures.
“While we are happy to announce that a record low number of pupils needed to be given an alternative school, some families will still be receiving unwelcome news today. These parents can be assured that National Offer Day is just the first stage of offers and many will go on to secure places through waiting lists in the reallocation process and via appeals. A specialist KCC team is on hand to help parents make the most of the options available to them.”
Parents who applied online will receive an email after 4pm today (Monday, April 16), indicating which school they have been offered; the timing of the email will depend on their own email service provider.
Parents can also log in after 5pm to view the offer online. Those who applied by paper application form will be sent notification by first class post today.
Parents can accept their school place offers or seek alternatives if they are not happy with their allocation. There are still places available at schools across Kent. This is a direct result of measures taken by the council to manage capacity in line with demand.
Parents will have until Monday, May 14 to accept or refuse their offer and return waiting list forms. They must also lodge any appeals for their named schools by Wednesday, May 16 to be heard on time.
KCC will reallocate places from schools’ waiting lists, sending out a second round of offers on Friday, June 15.
From Friday, June 15, schools will maintain their own waiting lists and parents can apply to schools directly via the ‘In Year Common Application Form’ after this date to ask to be placed on the waiting list.
For more information on how to join a waiting list and/or appeal go to: www.kent.gov.uk/primaryadmissions or phone the admissions team on 0300 412121.