Six in seven Surrey pupils offered their first choice primary school

Six in seven Surrey applicants for reception class places this September have been offered their first choice school.

Figures from Surrey County Council for national primary school offer day show that 86 per cent of applicants were offered the school they put first on their list – up from 82 per cent last year.

Primary education in Surrey covers infant and junior levels.

Figures for applications to reception in September 2017 show:

* 86.4% of Surrey applicants were offered their first preference school – up from 82.4% last year
* 96.1% of Surrey applicants were offered one of their top three preferences – up from 94% last year
* All Surrey pupils who needed a place got one
* 13,115 Surrey residents applied for places – down 5% from 13,877 last year

Figures for junior applications for September 2017 show:

* 89.6% of Surrey applicants were offered their first preference school – down from 90.3% last year
* 94.6% of Surrey applicants were offered one of their top three preferences – down from 95.2% last year
* All Surrey pupils who needed a place got one

Liz Mills, Surrey County Council’s Assistant Director for Schools and Learning, said: “We’re pleased we were able to offer the vast majority of Surrey children the primary school place they wanted this year with six in seven applicants getting their first preference.

“While the number of applicants to Surrey primary schools fell this year in the wake of the birth rate dropping in 2013, we know we still need to create an extra 11,000 school places over the next five years to cater for demand in many parts of the county at both primary and secondary level.”

* The table below shows the number of offers made by each school to Surrey parents who named the school as their first preference, second preference and third preference. Surrey parents can state four preferences in total. In addition, offers may have been made to applicants who live outside the county.