Cornwall Council is one of the most successful authorities in England for meeting the first choice of schools for secondary school pupils.

The authority says that 98.9 per cent of pupils in Cornwall will go to their first choice of secondary school this September, adding that Cornwall Council’s performance has consistently been one of the best in the country.

Last year 99 per cent of pupils in Cornwall went to their first choice of secondary school.

Andrew Wallis, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said “Our staff work extremely hard to ensure that school places are allocated in a fair and transparent way and these impressive figures show that the vast majority of parents in Cornwall have been able to get their children into the schools of their choice”.

The council received a total of 5,068 on time applications for secondary schools places this year. Of the 4,939 applications which were for schools in Cornwall, 4,885 received their first choice. 129 on time applications were received for out of county schools, of which 113 (87 per cent ) received their first choice of schools. This means that 4,998 children in Cornwall were allocated a place at their first choice of school.

Thirty three children were allocated a place at their second choice of schools, with seven receiving a place at their third choice. The remaining 30 children were allocated a place at their nearest school with room. All children who applied on time have been allocated a place at a school for September.

Any parent who has not been allocated a place at their first choice school has a legal right of appeal to an independent appeals panel. This panel is completely independent of Government, local authorities or schools’ own governing bodies.