Atleast a 100 more additional pupils in Nottingham have received their first-choice primary school for September this year – despite a larger number of applications than 2022, Mojatu Online has established.
On National Offer Day this week, the City Council says it was able to inform parents and carers of 3,108 children that they have secured a place at their preferred school.
In a statement the Council disclosed that this compares with 2,989 for 2022, despite there being 62 more applications this year.
“An offer has been made to every child whose parents or carers applied on time, so nobody is without a place,” reads the statement in part.
The statement further reads that this means that 98.3 per cent of parents got either their first or second-choice school, up from 97.6 per cent in 2022.
The Nottingham City Council says officers will continue to help parents and carers over the coming days with any questions they may have, or support with the appeal process where necessary.
Nick Lee, Director of Education at Nottingham City Council, said: “We understand how important it is for parents and carers to secure a place for their children at a preferred primary school as they start their education journey.”
Lee said the Council work really hard to support them with this and it’s been another challenging year, so I’m delighted that every child in Nottingham has been offered a place – with more than a hundred additional first-choices than last year.
Lee added: “This is especially welcome considering that we received 62 more applications for September 2023, which is effectively two whole year groups at some schools.
“That’s another significant increase and I’d like to thank parents and carers for applying on-time, and also our Admissions team for all their hard work,” he said.
He said the Council have proven in terms of Nottingham’s primary school expansion programme our ability to increase capacity in the city and enable more parents to get a place at their preferred school.
Parents across the country are finding out which school their little ones will be going to in the autumn, as offers for places at primary schools are released in the United Kingdom
On National Offer Day, parents or guardians are notified of which primary school their child has been offered a place at for the upcoming academic year.
Parents usually express a preference for certain schools when they apply, but there is no guarantee that their child will be offered a place at their preferred school.
“We understand how important it is for parents and carers to secure a place for their children at a preferred primary school as they start their education journey.”
Nick Lee
Director of Education at Nottingham City Council