Tomorrow, Wednesday, 15 January, is the deadline for parents to apply for places at primary schools. Parents apply for places via their local councils and in most instances are asked to apply to up to six schools in preference order.
We provide funding for primary school places to be created based on local authorities’ own pupil forecasts. We have committed £7 billion to deliver new school places between 2015 and 2021, on top of our investment in the free school programme.
As a result, in 2019, 90.6% of parents were offered their first choice primary school and 97.5% received offers from one of their top three choices.
School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:
Choosing a primary school for your child can be a difficult decision but it has been made easier for parents who are now significantly more likely to have a good or outstanding school on their doorstep than they were ten years ago.
We have also made sure that the supply of school places meets demand, meaning that last year the vast majority of parents got their first choice of primary school or another of their top three choices. It also means we have managed to keep primary school classes broadly stable in size despite a large increase in pupil numbers.
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