84% of Surrey pupils offered their first choice secondary school despite rise in applications

Surrey has offered five out of six applicants their first preference secondary school despite an eight per cent rise in applications.

The county council processed 851 more applications this year than last – enough to fill an entire new secondary school.

Figures for secondary school “national offer day” show:

*83.6% of Surrey applicants were offered their first preference school – similar to last year’s figure of 83.7%
*93.3% of Surrey applicants were offered one of their top three preferences – down from 93.9% last year
*12,189 Surrey residents applied for secondary school places – up 7.5% from 11,338 last year
*All Surrey pupils who needed a place got one

Mary Lewis, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “There’s been an eight per cent increase in applications compared with last year so it’s really good news for parents that five out of six Surrey pupils have still been offered a place at their first choice school.

“We’ve invested heavily in more school places and ninety-three per cent of applicants have been offered a place at one of their top three choices. I know that a place at a preferred school is really important to families but the cost of providing 18,000 more primary and secondary places in the last seven years is putting a huge strain on county council budgets.

“And it’s not over yet – we still need thousands more places because of the increase in the number of school age children in Surrey. By the end of the decade we’ll face a shortfall in Government funding of over £100 million and that’s why we continue to press for fair funding for Surrey – I hope parents will back us.”

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