At the start of the year, there was a rush among some parents to apply for primary school places for their children. The capital is currently on the verge of a schools shortage and parents are concerned about the quality of their children's education, not to mention travel times.

The results of the process have just been published and they show that Newham is the best borough to live in for getting what placement parents wanted.

Statistics highlighted by Newham Council show the area topped the table of all 33 London boroughs for having the highest percentage of first place offers for primary school pupils.

A breakdown shows the local authority received 4,696 applications by the January 15th closing date. Of those submissions, 1,955 (42 per cent) were made via the internet and 2,741 (58 per cent) were sent via the post. Whatever the method of submission, the vast majority of parents (91 per cent) found they were successful with their first choice primary school. This is ten percentage points above the average of 81 per cent in the capital.

Furthermore, Newham offered 98 per cent of pupils a primary school place at one of their top three choices, which is six percentage points higher than the average.

A council spokesperson remarked that these results are down to the continued hard work of parents, schools and the local education authority council, all of whom have been committed to ensuring the borough’s children can attend the school of their choice.
 
They added: "We've also invested in a pupil expansion programme to expand over subscribed schools and create new schools. This has enabled us to continue to provide an excellent learning environment with high quality teaching, meet the growing demand for school places, and ensure every Newham child has place in one of our outstanding primary schools." 

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