INITIAL projections show an overwhelming majority of new reception class pupils in the county have secured first preference places in schools.

Figures for the county show overall, 1,895 reception place offers were made.

The figures break down to:

  • First preference – 1773 offers or 93.6 per cent of total.
  • Second preference – 77 or 4.1 per cent of total with a cumulative success rate of 97.7 per cent.
  • Third preference – 13 or 0.7 per cent of total with a cumulative success rate of 98.4 per cent.

The remaining places offered – 32 or 1.6 per cent – were to parents whose preferences could not be met.

In these cases, the offer was for the nearest school to their home address with spaces available.

As in previous years, Herefordshire is a net importer of pupils with more from neighbouring counties requesting places in Herefordshire than Herefordshire pupils requesting places in neighbouring counties.

Currently 17 Herefordshire primary schools have waiting lists and 46 have spaces available.

Herefordshire Council has been promoting online applications setting a target that saw at least 50 per cent of families applying online.

The statistics show that 73 per cent did so.

Comparable statistics for last year: September 2014 reception class admissions were 1,887 offers of which 94.9 per cent were first preferences and 99.5 per cent one of three preferences.