MORE than 90 per cent of parents and children have been offered their first choice primary school in Oxfordshire – although the figure is down on last year.

A total of 91.49 per cent (6,459) of applicants have been awarded their first choice for starting infant or primary school in 2022/23.

This compares to last year when the figure was 93.09 per cent (6,409).

Despite the percentage falling, 50 more children across the county have been offered their first choice.

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This year, there are 7,060 Oxfordshire children who need school places for September – 175 more than last year.

A total of 98.54 per cent (6,957) have been offered one of the four choices they listed on their application.

The national figures for this year have not yet been published, but the percentage receiving a first choice of primary school in England in 2021 was 91.09 per cent, compared to Oxfordshire’s 93.09 per cent.

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Oxfordshire’s percentage receiving a first choice has been better than the national average in every year since at least 2017.

Hayley Good, Oxfordshire County Council’s deputy director of children’s services, said: “Our school admissions team has done an excellent job in ensuring that so many parents and children have been offered their first choice.

“I am grateful to the team for all its hard work. Our aim as a council is to give every child a good start in life and our school admissions team play an essential part in that year in, year out.”

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