Every year I carry out a report into parents’ first-preference secondary school applications.
My 2018 report finds that:
- Over a third of parents in London missed out on their first-choice secondary school again this year – leaving 31,305 children unable to attend the school they wanted to in September. This is compared to the national average of 17.9%.
- This is a problem which only seems to be getting worse - 2% more parents in London missed out on their first-choice school this year than in 2017.
- In inner London boroughs the situation is even worse - only 63% of parents received their first preference and over 11,000 children were left without their first-choice school.
- Locally in Southwark only 59.7% of parents in Southwark got their first preference secondary school in 2018, compared to the national average of 82.1%.
- This is the 8th lowest of all the local authorities in England. The lowest 10 local authorities for first preference school choice are all London boroughs.
Harriet Harman MP, Mother of the House of Commons, said:
“The Government must ensure the right steps are taken to make every school a good school that parents want to choose.
“They cannot continue to cut back on school funding in London and expect schools to be able to continue to improve.
“I have written to the Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, with a copy of my report to raise parents’ concerns and to propose that Ofsted’s terms of reference are changed so that when they are inspecting a school they look at the views of parents who don’t want to send their child to that local school as well as the view of parents who do have children in the school. This would enable government and councils to act on the concerns of local parents.”
ENDS
For further information contact Rachel Smethers: [email protected] / 0785 2213 922
Notes to Editors:
- Full report: ‘Are parents in Camberwell & Peckham getting the choice of secondary school they want for their child?’ attached.
- Data source: Applications and offers for entry to secondary schools in England for academic year 2018/19, DfE. Data collected from local authorities on Secondary National Offer Day - 1 March 2018.