ALMOST 80 per cent of children in Southend will start secondary school in September at their first choice school.

Children were told which school they would be attending on 'national offer day' on Friday.

Out of 2,161 applications made, 92 per cent received one of their top three preferences - 1 per cent higher than in 2018.

Helen Boyd, Southend Council cabinet member for children and learning, said: "I am very pleased that 79 per cent of applicants received offers for their first preference and 92 per cent have one of their top three.

"We make every effort to ensure that children of secondary school age who have applied are offered a place."

She added: "Secondary applications are increasing all the time and this year they were up by 117, but despite this the number of children gaining their top preference has increased by 143 (3 per cent) which emphasises the hard work that our school admissions and school development teams do.

"As ever, and whilst the majority of people have got what they wanted, we of course recognise that there will be disappointed families who did not receive either their first choice or who did not receive any of their top three. That is why we continue to work hard on plans to increase the number of pupil places available locally.

"In addition, we recently committed to ensuring that there are sufficient places offering good quality and choice to our young people and their parents and carers.”

In total, 2,161 pupils applied for as secondary school place in Southend.
Of that number, 1,693 - 79 per cent - children were offered their first choice school. 

Some 203 were allocated their second choice school, with 89 offered their third-choice school. 

Interestingly 125 - about 6 per cent - pupils were allocated schools which were not on their application form.