Conservative Controlled Council Offers 9 out of 10 Parents First Choice Primary School

Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council has offered 9 out of 10 parents their first choice primary school, despite rises in pupil numbers putting pressure on school places.

Figures show the overwhelming majority of parents have been allocated their first choice school, with 97 per cent in total allocated one of their top three preferred schools.

A total of 8897 places have been allocated, with 8167 of those receiving their first choice primary school and 8648 getting one of their top three.  This is despite a rise in birth rate of up to 11 per cent in Staffordshire over the last decade putting more pressure on school places.

Three years ago, the county council successfully applied for £44 million of the government’s ‘basic need’ allocation to increase capacity across Staffordshire.  Since then, officers have managed to provide an extra 2,000 primary school places across the county through expanding existing schools and building two new ones.

Anne Birch, County Commissioner for learning and skills said: “A huge percentage of parents in Staffordshire have got their first preference, and have good reason to celebrate.  Despite the rise in birth rates and the extra pressures on primary school places in the county, through careful managing of the admissions process and the extra capacity we are putting in Staffordshire schools we have managed to ensure the majority of parents are offered one of their top three places.

“Last year we were awarded nearly £13million towards primary school places in the county, in recognition of rising birth rates.  We have already added capacity in Burton, Huntington, Fradley, Lichfield and Stafford either by making better use of existing accommodation or through building new schools, and this will continue for the next few years.

“These pressures on school places makes the fact that we have given 92 per cent of parents their first choice school all the more remarkable.  A large number of parents now have very good reason to be pleased as their child starts their school life in a Staffordshire school.”