Fewer Peterborough children offered place at preferred secondary school

Parents of children in the last year of primary school will find out today (Friday 1 March 2024) which secondary school their child has been offered a place at from September 2024.

In total 96.59% of pupils have been allocated a place at one of their three preference schools and 93.71% of pupils were allocated a place at either their first or second preference school. In total, 83.87% of pupils have received a place at their first preference school for 2024/25.

Overall, 3,019 offers were made to Peterborough schools - a slight increase on last year.

‘Unprecedented numbers of Year 6 children arriving in Peterborough within the current academic year’

There has been a reduction in the proportion of pupils offered a place at one of their preferred Peterborough secondary schools for 2024 because of unprecedented numbers of Year 6 children arriving in Peterborough within the current academic year.

To date, Peterborough City Council’s admissions team received 178 applications for children new to the city in Year 6 within the 2023-2024 academic year.

‘School place planning is always a very difficult job’

Councillor Ray Bisby, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: “School place planning is always a very difficult job because we have to predict how many children will be in a year group to ensure we have enough school places available for them when they move from primary to secondary school. It is not a straight forward process because not all children in our primary schools move to secondary schools in Peterborough, some move out of the area, but we also get children from other local neighbouring authority areas applying for places at our schools.

“This year we saw unprecedented numbers of pupils joining Peterborough primary schools in Year 6 which means there is a greater demand for secondary school places than we had predicted and planned for which has resulted in less children being offered one of their first or second preference schools. However over 96.5 per cent of pupils have been offered one of their three preferences which is still an excellent outcome.

“I’d like to thank parents and carers for getting their applications in on time which will always give them the best chance of securing a place at one of their three preference schools.

“I’d also like to thank our admissions team for their excellent work at this busy time of year, processing and allocating thousands of places to children in this city.”

Parents given information on how to appeal against decision

Parents will also receive an email today with their offer giving details of how they should accept or decline their offer and the appeal process should they wish to appeal the place their child has been offered.

Any parent that applied on a paper application form will have their outcome posted to them on 1 March 2024.

All school place offers must be accepted by 15 March 2024 to ensure a school place is secured for September 2024.

To find out more visit https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-education/school-admissions/starting-secondary-school-in-year-7