One in three Westminster students fail to get into preferred secondary school
Published: 5 March 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 national offer day on Monday.
Competition for places was fiercer than ever, with a total 1,161 applications – a four per cent rise on last year – to the borough’s 10 secondary schools.
Westminster’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 sought after, with more than six pupils competing for every place.
For the borough’s four city academies, King Solomon, Paddington, Pimlico and Westminster, the figures tell another story, with about two applicants for every place.
City Hall figures reveal 130 students missed out on their second and third choices and 80 may not even win a place at one of their six preferred schools. All applicants for a place got one. The pressure on secondary school places has increased because more parents hit by redundancy and the recession have decided against private education.
The overall number of pupils winning a place at their first choice school was actually higher than last year.
Compared to other London borough’s Westminster fares well. In the City of London and the borough of Wandsworth, fewer than half of families got their first choice.
Councillor Nickie Aiken, Westminster’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “We are pleased the number of pupils able to secure their first choice school has slightly increased this year. Results are improving across Westminster and last year we achieved our best GCSE results to date.”