THIS year has seen an increase in the number of Warrington students securing a place at their first choice of high school.

More than 2000 applications were sent into Warrington Borough Council for pupils’ first, second and third choices of secondary schools within the borough.

School admission offers across the country were sent out on Friday with parents finding out if their child had been allocated their first choice of school.

The council confirmed that this year has seen a rise in Warrington pupils being allocated their first choice.

A spokesperson from WBC said: “This year saw 2809 applicants for secondary school places in Warrington. All pupils who applied for a place this year have been allocated one.

“This year 91.1 per cent of pupils (2,559) have been allocated a place at their first choice of secondary school placement.

“This is a 3.6 per cent increase in the number of children securing their first preference when compared to 2023, which saw 87.47 per cent of children (2,500 of 2,858 applicants) receive their first choice.”

The number of children who were allocated their second place of choice has lowered in comparison to the previous year however, with 6.2 per cent receiving their second place this year as apposed to 6.8 per cent the previous.

Lastly the amount of year 6 pupils who were given their third choice of secondary school place also dropped this year with 1.1 per cent this year as apposed to 2.24 per cent the previous year.

Advice from the DfE on appealing a school placement stated the following: “Parents or carers who want to appeal a decision should first contact the school’s admission authority, which is responsible for organising the appeal panel.

“The panel is independent and will look at the case presented by both the admission authority and the parent before making a decision on whether the school should admit the child.

“The decision of the appeal panel is binding – if the appeal is upheld, the admission authority must offer the child a place at the school.”