FEWER pupils have secured their first-choice secondary schools in Oxfordshire this year after a surge in applications.

Today children will learn which school they have been given a place at for September, and most families will be relieved to find they have been awarded a spot at one of their three favourite choices.

Oxfordshire County Council said 85.77 per cent of applicants have been placed at their first-choice school, down from 88.83 per cent last year.

A total of 94 per cent have been awarded a place at one of their three preferred choices, down from 97 per cent last year.

This means more than 400 children have not gained a place at one of their preferences.

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However, the council hailed this decline as a victory due to the admissions team receiving 7,300 applications, 400 more than in 2018, as the number of secondary-age children in the county soars.

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Admissions officers also had to juggle two applications processes this year, as the Swan School had to run a separate system, as a result of not having had the final go-ahead from central government that it can definitely open in September.

The figure is still expected to exceed the national average and should rise further if the Swan School opens as planned.

The new Oxford school, which is due to open in temporary buildings at The Cherwell School, is still awaiting the government's sign-off on its funding agreement.

Oxford Mail:

What the Swan School could look like. Pic: Infinite 3D/ Galliford Try

It does not expect to get this until spring or even summer, even though construction has started at its permanent site in Marston.

Successful applicants have been asked to accept both the Swan place and the county council's place to ensure they have a back-up.

Several schools in the city have had to offer 'bulge' classes, meaning they have accepted more pupils than usual, to make sure Swan hopefuls are not left without a place in the unlikely event that its opening is pushed back again.

More than 240 places will initially be held in existing schools pending Swan School confirmation.

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Once the funding deal is finalised, they will then be asked to decline their back-up place.

The Swan School has published further details on its website.

The percentage of pupils in Oxfordshire gaining a preferred spot has been consistently above the national average in recent years, and the council expects this round of allocations to continue that trend.

Nationally, education experts have predicted that a record number of children will be denied their first-choice secondary school this year. 

Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, the council's cabinet member for education and cultural services, said: "Our school admissions team have done an excellent job in ensuring that so many parents and children have been offered their first choice despite this being an exceptionally difficult year.

"I am grateful to them for the hard work they’ve done.

"Our aim as a council is to give every child a good start in life and our school admissions team play their part in that year in, year out."

She said she was grateful to the secondary schools who had agreed to increase admissions this year as an 'exceptional measure' due to Swan School.

Oxford Mail:

Lorraine Lindsay-Gale pictured at Oxford Central Library. Pic by Jon Lewis

The councillor added: "To have had such a small drop in first choice offers in the circumstances is remarkable. We have planned ahead meticulously for the extra numbers this year with school expansions.

"The delays in central government being able to confirm the Swan School’s opening did present us with a problem we could have done without.

"However we are working around that and hope for good news from central government later in the spring, now that the necessary planning permissions are in place."

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Since 2011 more than 6,000 new places have been created in Oxfordshire secondary schools, excluding the extra capacity that will be created at the Swan School, which will have 1,260 places when filled.

A further 2,000 are planned in the coming years, including at the new Whitelands Academy in Bicester and a new all-through school at Grove Airfield.