Over 100 children in Richmond have not been offered a place at secondary school, after parents received the outcome last week.

Over 2,000 Richmond parents who applied for a secondary school place for their children will have received the outcome of their application on Friday, March 1.

There was a 7.3 per cent increase, when compared to last year, with 61 per cent of applicants receiving their first choice. 82 per cent received an offer at the of their first three choices.

Currently, 112 children have not been offered a place.

In London, parents express preferences for secondary schools both inside and outside the borough in which they live, making them far more likely to be oversubscribed than in other parts of England. Nearly all applicants who applied by the deadline have received an offer of a place.

However, as parents accept or decline their offers over the next few weeks and months, it is anticipated that all children without a school place will be offered one from the waiting-lists as quickly as possible.

The School Admissions team at Richmond Borough will be able to reassure and advise parents. They will monitor the progress of applications of children who are without an offer at this initial stage of the admissions process and will do all they can to ensure that parents' wait for a school place is minimal.

Cllr Penny Frost, Richmond Council Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Schools, said: “Our secondary schools are more popular than ever, with nearly 150 more applications this year.

“Over 60 per cent of our students have been offered a place at their first preference of school, which is around the same as last year. I expect this figure to continue to rise as we increase choice and improvements across our schools.

We are confident that by the summer all children will have a placement as places become available from waiting lists as parents move out of the area or make alternative arrangements for their child’s education.

“I understand the anxiety that parents whose children have yet to be offered a place will be feeling, and I would like to assure them that their children will be placed as quickly as possible.

“Our forecasts show that the number of applicants in future years is set to continue rising, already this year Richmond had a 7.3 per cent increase in applicants, compared to 3 per cent across the rest of the Capital. We are therefore planning now to ensure additional capacity.”