Thousands of families will find out if their children have been offered a primary school place in one of their chosen schools today.

Merton Council struggled to cope with rising demand for reception class places last year, after 2,587 children applied for a place.

150 children did not receive an offer from any of their five schools of preference, with 14 children receiving no offer at all.

For those children not offered a place, councillor Martin Whelton, cabinet member for education, said: “Most of them will be on waiting lists because some people drop out or move from the borough.

“There’s always subsequently the second rounds and full advice will be given in the letters in terms of going forward.”

This year will see the first co-ordinated allocation of primary school places across England, with emails and letters being sent out with details of where children will be starting school in September.

The Department for Education has published "scorecards" this week showing how local authorities were meeting this rising demand.

By summer 2013, it shows councils had firm plans for an extra 300,000 places - with a further 57,000 needed to meet the expected demand in autumn 2015.

It shows that the numbers in primary school rose from 3.9m in 2012 to more than 4.01m in 2013.

How did you do? If you would like to share your experience of getting your child into their school of choice, e-mail louisa.clarence@london.newsquest.co.uk

To find out about school places as they become available, visit the council’s website


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