From education to employment

Secondary School Offer Day: More choice for parents when it comes to their children’s education

Pupils across the country will find out today (Friday 1 March) which secondary school has offered them a place for September 2019.

Latest figures show 82.1% of pupils were offered their first choice of secondary school and 93.8% of pupils were offered one of their top three secondary schools last year.

More than 825,000 school places have been created since 2010 with the government on track to create a million new school places by the end of this decade – the largest increase for at least two generations – to ensure every child has access to a good school place.

The government has already committed £7 billion to create new school places between 2015 and 2021. This investment, coupled with the free schools programme, is expected to deliver 600,000 new school places.

Standards have risen since 2010 with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools – 86% of schools are now judged to this standard, compared to 68% in 2010. The attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers has also narrowed since 2011.

The government has introduced gold-standard qualifications which better prepare students for further study and the world of work.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

“Today is a significant milestone for thousands of parents and children finding out which secondary school they will be attending from September. This government is determined to create more choice for parents when it comes to their children’s education and we have created 825,000 school places since 2010, and are on track to see that number rise to a million by 2020.

“Standards have also risen, with 86% of schools now good or outstanding, compared to 68% in 2010, and last year more than nine out of ten pupils got a place at one of their top three choices, setting them on the path for a successful future.”

Responding to analysis by the Good Schools Guide, which warns that a record number of children will miss out on their first choice secondary school, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:

“While we hope as many children as possible get their first choice school place, we have long warned that the number of children needing secondary school places is growing at a far faster rate than the number of places available.

“This is why councils need to be given the powers to help solve this crisis. As a starting point they should be allowed to open new maintained schools and direct academies to expand.

“It makes no sense for councils to be given the responsibility to plan for school places but then not allowed to open schools themselves.

“It is only by working with councils, rather than shutting them out, that we can meet the challenges currently facing the education system.”


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