Sir – Much as it is difficult to know how to judge schools on the basis of their performance in ‘league-table’ lists, it is also difficult to know how much weight to give to the claims of success in this year’s allocation of school places (Report, March 5). Compared with national figures for admission to secondary schools, young people in Oxfordshire fare above average, with 89.6 per cent (83.2 per cent) getting a place in their first-choice school.
Understanding family response to school choice is difficult: how well informed are the ‘choosers’; are there spare places in desirable schools; are there alternative schools (within free-transport range); how is peer pressure balanced against opportunities for enjoyment and learning; what logistic resource can the family deploy to support the young person’s choice; what degree of market intervention is sustained by the local authority; does ‘choice’ feel real?
Oxfordshire’s statistically-neighbouring authorities offer a comparable demographic and population density and it might, again, be informative to your readers to consider local performance on secondary admissions in this context.
Considering equally the percentage of young people who get their first-choice, or one of their top-three choices, or none of their top-three choices, and ranking Oxfordshire County Council amongst its statistically-neighbouring authorities, we come eighth of 11 authorities.
Whether or not you think it the best way to improve schools, choice is clearly much more real amongst our neighbours than it is here.
Peter Martin, Bampton
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