ALMOST 162,000 children lost out on their first choice of primary or secondary school this year despite a government pledge to improve parent choice.
New figures for those taking up school places in September reveal that the number of families missing out has increased year-on-year by 8,000. One in seven pupils in England now fails to get their first choice school.
Around the country, 52,800 applicants missed out on one of their top three preferred schools — 2,500 more than in 2014-15. A chronic shortage of places in London meant almost a third of parents in the capital did not get their first choice secondary school and one in nine got none of their top three choices.
Some 25,931 families missed out on their top choice in London and 8,838 did not get any of their top three.
The situation is also deteriorating in other parts of the country. In the northwest, nearly 2,000 more families missed out on their top choice of school than did so a year earlier and more than 1,000 extra families missed out in Yorkshire, the southeast and the east of England.
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Across the country 4,678 applications did not receive any offer of a school place for September. That problem was most acute in eastern England, where 790 applications got no offer of a primary place, almost double the figure for the previous year.
The analysis was released by the Labour party, whose acting leader, Harriet Harman, said: “David Cameron said parental choice was one of his priorities. But far too many parents are missing out on getting their child into their first-choice school and this number is rising.
“This is yet more evidence that the Tories’ education reforms are failing to deliver, and are letting children and parents down.”
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Among those to miss out was Alidin Severn, 11, who is still on a waiting list for his first-choice school — Duston academy in Northampton, which has been rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, the schools inspectorate.
The academy is the nearest school to his home and the only one he can comfortably walk to. It is also where many of his friends from Millway primary school will go.
However, Alidin has been offered a place at Kingsthorpe College, a three-mile walk from his home which requires him to cross a number of busy roads. His father, Tim Severn, who unsuccessfully appealed against the county council’s decision, said: “It’s not just that it’s an academy school with a good reputation, it’s also our nearest school and the one he can walk to. He is now on the waiting list but to be honest he may never get a place there.”
Anne-Marie O’Leary, editor-in-chief of the parenting site Netmums, said: “Competition for coveted schools is so intense that we regularly hear of parents moving into a catchment area before their child is even born.
“The continuing baby boom has put unprecedented pressure on school places. These new figures show the problem appears to be getting worse. For some it will just be a minor disappointment, but for others it can cause serious problems, especially when families have children split across two or more schools.”
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Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The government’s approach to school place planning is nonsensical. Having been stripped of their powers to open new schools and with extremely limited funding for additional places, local authorities now no longer have adequate tools to meet the demand of rising pupil numbers.”
Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers , said: “These figures highlight the stark reality of the impact of government policy on school place planning.
“Increasing numbers of families face the annual disappointment of failing to secure their preferred choice.”
A Tory spokesman said: “The Conservatives have created over 400,000 school places. There are fewer children in overcrowded primary schools and, most importantly, 1m more children in good or outstanding schools since 2010.”