90 per cent get school first choice

MOST Oldham children will start at the primary school their parents wanted in September.

For the first time, families in every area of England have found out at the same time which places their children have been allocated. E-mails and letters were sent out to more than 600,000 families this week.

Oldham had 3,116 applications for places, with 90 per cent (the same as last year) of children getting into their parents’ preferred school. But 134 children (4.3 per cent) failed to get into one of their top three choices — last year the figure was 4.7 per cent.

Councils and schools have faced an increasing squeeze on places, particularly for primary-age children and in big citie.

Oldham has already announced plans to build a new primary school in Rochdale Road, Oldham, and expand others.