ALMOST 90 per cent of parents in Herefordshire were offered their first choice secondary school by the county council this week.

Herefordshire Council has today (Friday) made 1,860 offers of places in schools across the county compared to 1835 in 2021, with the following parental preference success rates: First preference: 1,666 offers, which is 89.6% of the total offers Second preference: 114 offers, which is 6.1% of the total offers with a cumulative success rate of 95.7%

Third preference: 16 offers, which is 0.86% of the total offers with a cumulative success rate of 96.6%

In comparison to last year 25 more children were offered school places in the county this resulted in a slight increase in the numbers of parents getting a school in one of their three preferences (96.5% compared to 96% in 2021). The remaining 64 places offered (3.4%), were to parents whose preferences could not be met and their offer was for the nearest school to their home address with available spaces. As in previous years, Herefordshire schools continue to be a net importer of pupils, with more pupils from neighbouring counties requesting places in the county’s schools than Herefordshire pupils requesting places in other counties. As of March 4, six Herefordshire secondary schools with waiting lists and 5 have available spaces. 18 pupils who did not apply for a school place will be allocated a place at the nearest school to their home address with spaces at the end of March.