NEWS: Secondary School offers day
87% percent of in-borough applicants have been offered a place at one of their first three preferred secondary schools.
Last week (1 March), Richmond Council made the initial allocation of Year 7 offers for this September. This year, the parents/carers of 2,104 children applied for a place – compared with 2,086 last year.
65% of applicants have been offered a place at their first preference secondary school, compared to last year’s figure of 68%. In addition, 87% have been offered one of their top three preferences and 93% have received one of their preferences, which is the same as the September 2023 entry.
Currently there are 126 children without an offer of a secondary school place, compared with 68 at this time last year.
Cllr Penny Frost, Chair of the Council’s Education and Children’s Services Committee, said:
“Our schools are deservedly popular owing to the fact that they offer excellent, inclusive education for local children.
“In order to maximise the number of offers we made on 1 March, we worked with a number of schools to offer additional places on National Offer Day in the expectation that, in most cases, they will return to their published admission numbers by September. This approach has been taken in order to reduce uncertainty for parents and carers as far as possible. I am very grateful to schools for enabling additional places to be offered.
“But I know that this will be an anxious time for those children and their families who are yet to receive an offer. Parents and carers are advised to read carefully the notes which explain what to do next, and the School Admissions team will be contacting these families individually to discuss their application. We know from experience that sufficient places will become available to be re-offered to those on the waiting-lists from Tuesday 2 April 2024 onwards.
“The number of unplaced children is a reminder of the need to ensure that there are enough permanent school places in the borough. Although it will not provide places for children this year, Livingstone Academy, the long-anticipated six-form entry secondary school in Mortlake would, subject to planning permission, open later this decade and give much greater certainty for parents in the east of the borough in the longer term. In the meantime, I am very grateful to schools for enabling additional places to be offered.”
