PARENTS of reception age children across Cornwall have received details of which school their child is due to attend in September, with the majority of children being allocated a place in their first preference school.

Cornwall Council received 5,782 applications for new reception school places for pupils in Cornwall to start school in September 2015. 

Of those, 5,242 (90.7%) have been offered a place at their first preference school. Of the 540 pupils who were not allocated their first preference school, 272 pupils have been allocated their second preference school and 53 pupils their third preference school. 

These figures show that 96.3% of children have been allocated one of their three preferences.

The 215 pupils (3.7%) who have not been allocated a place at either their first, second or third preference school were placed at the nearest school to their home address with room. All reception age pupils who applied for a school place in Cornwall have been allocated a place.

This is a slightly worse picture compared to 2014 New Reception admissions, when 94% of children were allocated a place in their first preference school, with 97.9% being allocated one of their three preferences. 

One hundred and six (2.1%) children did not get a place in their first preference school.

In 2013, 93.1% of children were allocated a place in their first preference school, with 97.5% being allocated one of their three preferences.

There has also been an increase in the number of schools which are full for new reception admissions in September 2015. 

Cornwall has 235 primary schools, of which 227 have reception classes. Of these, 112 are currently full, compared with 93 schools in 2014 and 53 in 2013. These figures show that the number of children in Cornwall requiring a school place continues to grow; this picture is mirrored nationally.

To meet the increasing demand for school places in primary schools, Cornwall Council has commissioned expansion programmes at sixteen schools across Cornwall. In addition the council is preparing for future growth and is tendering for schemes to be carried out to provide further additional school places in Cornwall over the next two years.