One in three children miss out on preferred secondary school in places scramble
Pictured: Students at Marylebone School celebrate top marks in their A-level exams last year
March 2, 2010
By JAMIE WELHAM
ONE in three children in Westminster have been refused a place at their preferred secondary school.
Parents discovered which school their 10 or 11-year-old would be attending from September on Monday. Competition for places was more fierce than than ever, with a total 1161 applications – a four per cent rise on last year – to the borough's ten secondary schools.
Early indications show that the borough's two girls schools – Grey Coat Hospital in Westminster and St Marylebone in Marylebone Road – both of which are Church of England Schools, were the most desirable among parents.
City Hall figures reveal that 130 students missed out on their second and third choices and 80 could not even get a place at one of their six preferred schools. The pressure on secondary school places has increased because more parents hit by redundancy and the recession have decided against private education.
See Friday's paper or the full report, school by school breakdown and reaction from parents and teachers.