2,400 pupils get their No1 choice of school

Just over 90% of Rochdale pupils will attend their first-choice secondary school in September.

Letters were sent out to the parents of 2,643 11-year olds last week telling them what high schools they will attend.

A total of 2,402 received their first preference.

Another 156 pupils will attend their second-choice school, 41 their third and nine their fourth.

35 (1.32%) children did not get into any of their preferred options and have been offered an alternative.

Last year Rochdale introduced the new “equal preference” admissions system which asks parents to list schools in order of preference.

The admissions code is applied to each choice, meaning pupils could get places at several schools. They are then offered the place which has the highest ranking on their list.

Previously, the admissions code was only applied to parents’ first choice school. If they failed to get in they could find there were no places left at their other choices.

Nationally, 570,000 families received their secondary school offers this week. Around 20% failed to get their first choice.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: “Our ambition is that every parent has a good local school to send their children at the end of their primary years.

“That is why we have a relentless focus on raising school standards and why we are investing heavily in Academies and other school improvement programmes like the National Challenge

“The Schools Admissions Code has transformed the fairness of the system.

“We now have a fairer school admissions process where it is illegal to discriminate on the grounds of race, parent’s income or occupation or on the basis of an interview with the head.

“But it is never going to feel fully fair to parents if they can’t get their child into their first-choice school and this is the case for a minority of parents today."