First place school choice places rise

Families applying for their child’s secondary school place for September 2021 received their offers on March 1.

And the number of children who have been offered their first preference school is the highest it has been in Leeds at 7942 (7842 last year).

Coun Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s executive member for Learning, Skills and Employment said: “I am pleased that we have been able to increase the number of young people allocated their first preference school, although it is important to recognise that this continues to be a challenge to achieve as pupil numbers rise. “This year, there continues to be a significant pressure for school places in some areas of the city and we recognise not all parents will have got the outcome they wanted today.

“We have worked hard to increase the amount of secondary provision across the city, including supporting the opening of two new secondary schools in Leeds this September in order to ensure Leeds is the best city to live and grow up in.”

The number of children receiving one of their five preferences has risen to 9295 (9085 last year) and Leeds City Council has made 9892 year seven offers this year, an increase of 351 from last year.

Families are recommended to priorities their nearest school in their list of five.

Leeds City Council advised that parents need to accept their offer of a school place as soon as possible by contacting the school directly.

Parents who wish to decline their offer need to make sure they have another offer, or a plan for how their child will receive education, first.

They can also request to be added to the waiting lists at schools where they have not been offered a place and should do this by the March 15, 2021 to be included in the first allocation of places from the waiting lists where any vacancies have arisen.

If parents wish to appeal, the first deadline is March 29 2021. Information on this can be found at www.leeds.gov.uk/offerday