Worksop school places: the number of children receiving their preferred secondary school, how to accept a place and what to do to appeal if you want to appeal

Nottinghamshire County Council said 9,626 children applied for a secondary school place for September 2022 – almost 400 more than last year.

A total of 89 per cent – 8,566 applicants – were offered a place at their first choice school.

The local authority said this is “comparable” to previous years.

A total of 9,306 children – 96.7 per cent – have received a place at one of their four preferences.

But 320 pupils – 3.3 per cent received an alternative offer after no preference could be met.

The county council stressed the importance to parents of using all four preferences on their application, so they could carefully consider their options and select schools based on the over-subscription criteria. This gives the best chance of securing a place in a preferred school.

Parents who applied online will be able to log on to their account to see their outcome.

However, those who submitted their application by other means will be sent their outcomes by second class post.

Chairman of of the county council’s children and young people’s committee, councillor Tracey Taylor, said: “We are delighted that so many parents have secured places for their children at one of their preferred schools.

“Schools have gone above and beyond to accommodate the demand for extra places, and we cannot thank them enough.

“We have worked collaboratively with the schools to make this happen and I’m proud of everyone involved for making sure children across Nottinghamshire are not without a school place in September.

“We are proud that we were still able to offer more than 96% of families one of their preferences even with the growing pupil numbers, and where that has not been possible, we have done everything we can to find an acceptable place for that child.

“We are, of course, determined to keep improving and this includes continuing to work to increase school place provision where needed as well as to stress to parents how vital it is to use all four of their preferences on their application rather than only making one.”

Derbyshire

In Derbyshire, around 9,000 children have been offered places.

Of those parents who applied by the closing date 92.5 per cent are due to be offered their first preference school. Overall, 96.2 per cent have been offered a place at one of their three preferred schools.

Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for education, councillor Alex Dale said: “I’d like to thank everyone who applied to us on time for their child’s secondary school place for September.

‎“I’d also like to thank our school admissions and transport team for processing almost 10,100 applications and helping parents with their applications.“T‎here were a few parents who didn’t make an application, however in this case, the parents will be offered the normal area school for their home address if the school has vacancies or the nearest school with vacancies if the normal area school is oversubscribed.

"Parents can still make an application for preferred schools if they wish.”

Rotherham

In all, 97.5 per cent of pupils in Rotherham have been offered a place at one of their three preferred schools this year, which is up from 96 per cent last year.

The 87 -2.5 per cent - of pupils in Rotherham who were not offered one of their three preferences have all been allocated either their catchment area school or nearest school to home with a place available. No schools refused catchment or sibling category applications.

Cabinet member for children and young people’s services at Rotherham Council, councillor Victoria Cusworth, said: "National Offer Day can be a stressful time for parents, carers and pupils, as they wait anxiously to see if they have been allocated their preferred place, so I am really pleased that we’ve been able to build on what was already exceptionally good performance by securing more first choice and top three preference places for local children this year.

“Our success doesn’t happen by accident. It is the culmination of a huge amount of hard work by our school place planners, who closely monitor the latest population statistics and demand. And our excellent working relationship with school and academy leaders across the borough has helped to ensure we have the right school places in the right locations at the right time.

“Any parents or carers who are not happy with the allocation for their child has the right to appeal any decision which will be heard by an independent panel."

What to do now?

Those who are happy with the place they have been offered should accept the offer and the school will then be in touch with them to arrange the transition.

How to appeal?

If parents are unhappy with the place offered, the Notts County Council recommends that they view the information on the council’s website regarding the options available to them – including guidance about how to appeal.

Further information is available from Nottinghamshire County Council's School Admissions Hub.

Derbyshire County Council said information on how to appeal is available by visiting www.derbyshire.gov.uk/admissions ‎Alternatively parents can get information from the council’s school admissions and transport team by calling 01629 537479.

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