Education chiefs hail 'astonishing' outcome as more than 3,000 primary school places allocated for East Riding children

Letters and emails confirming places are being sent out today by East Riding of Yorkshire Council today, National Offer Day.

A total of 3,017 parents and carers living in the East Riding of Yorkshire applied for a place for their child in the reception year at infant or primary schools for September 2020.

Despite the national pandemic which has meant council services have needed to change how they operate to take account of the current lockdown situation, 97.1% of children (2,931) have been allocated the first preference school and 99.2% (2,993) have been allocated a place at one of their three preferences.

Only 0.8% of children (24) could not be allocated a place at a school their parents or carers named as a preference.

Of these, 21 children have been allocated a place by the local authority at their local ‘catchment’ school and three at other schools local to their home address.

A total of 49 East Riding children will attend primary and infant schools in other local authority areas, while 191 children resident in other local authority areas will be travelling to East Riding schools.

Twenty eight of the 118 primary and infant schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire are oversubscribed – that is they have received more applications for places than the number of places available.

All 416 East Riding residents who applied for their children to start Year 3 at a junior school have been allocated places at the school named as their first preference.

Deborah Myers, the council’s head of children and young people, education and schools, said: “The outcome of this year’s admissions round is astonishing and despite the challenges faced as a result of the global pandemic we have still been able to announce the allocated school for all our children due to start school in September on National Offer Day.

“An achievement of over 97% of families being offered their first choice preference is fantastic.

“Our schools work exceptionally hard to support our East Riding families and have demonstrated this during the current period of significant challenge, they overwhelmingly offer parents and carers what they really want for their children: a good education at a local school.”

Cllr Julie Abraham, portfolio holder for children, young people and education, said: "The allocation of school places is an important decision for families and it is excellent news that so many parents and carers have been able to access their first choice of school for their children.

“It is disappointing when a first choice cannot be granted but no child will be required to travel a significant distance where that was not possible.

“I would like to thank the staff at the local authority who have handled such an important and sensitive issue, so timely and effectively during these unprecedented times of national crisis, providing a seamless service for our residents.”