MANY children across Somerset have been offered a primary school place at one of their top three choices.

The offers have been made today (Monday, April 17).

In the latest figures released by Somerset Council, it was revealed that almost 99% of prospective pupils received an offer from one of their top three choices.

Out of 5,182 applicants, 94.54% (4,899) received their first choice. 3.88% (201) of applicants got an offer for their second choice, and just 0.52% (27) received an offer for their third.

This beats last year's statistics. A grand total of 5,296 applications for primary school places were received. Of those, 98.62% of applicants received one of their top three preferences, with 93.4% receiving their first primary school preference.

Those who applied for a place online will receive their offer by email. If you made an application by post, you can expect to receive a letter with an offer this week.

The Schools Admissions Team is asking families not to contact their children's allocated schools - the schools will be in touch with families to discuss arrangements as soon as they are able.

A small minority of children have not been offered one of their top three choices. Parents and carers of these children can appeal this decision.

More information regarding the appeal process can be found on the email or letter families will receive.

More detailed information about the appeal process can be found on Somerset Council's website.

As explained on the council's Choosing a School page, there are many different factors which can dictate whether your child is offered a place or not. 

Every school has an admission criteria which they use to decide which children get places. These are usually set by the school or local council, and can vary for each school.

They may give priority to children:

  • Who live close to the school.
  • Who have a brother or sister at the school already.
  • Are from a particular religion (for faith schools).
  • Who pass an entrance exam (this usually happens for selective schools, for example, grammar schools).
  • Who went to a particular primary school (a ‘feeder school’).
  • Who are eligible for the pupil premium or the service pupil premium.
  • Whose parent has worked at the school for 2 years or more.