THE number of Kingston youngsters still to be offered a secondary school place for September has more than doubled compared with last year.
This week marked the end of an anxious time for parents who were waiting to find out if their child had got into their first choice of secondary school.
When applying for a secondary school place in Kingston, parents must pick three schools and list them in order of preference. Letters offering places were sent out on Monday.
In Kingston, 60 per cent of parents were offered their first choice, 19 per cent their second choice, and nine per cent their third choice.
This means five per cent received an offer of a place not on their preference list - and 61 youngsters have yet to be offered a place at all.
The overall number of applicants went up by nine this year, to 1,565.
A council spokesman said the numbers were in line with previous years and with expectation, and he was confident the council would be able to provide a place for all applicants.
Parents now have two weeks to respond to the offers, so figures will not be finalised until after March 16. * IN RICHMOND there was slightly better news, as all youngsters were offered a school place, although only 86 per cent of these were in parents' top three preferences.
A total of 1,548 children applied for 1,560 places, up 38 from last year.
Of these, 62 per cent got into their first preference, 14.7 per cent their second and 5.9 per cent got into their third choice.
Another 3.4 per cent of places came from fourth, fifth and sixth choices, and 14 per cent received an offer that was not on their preference list at all.
Richmond Council's cabinet member for children's services and culture, Malcolm Eady, said this week: "I'm pleased that more than two thirds of our students have been offered a place at their first preference of school.
"It is always a challenge to offer everyone their first choice, particularly because parents will apply to the highest performing schools both inside and outside the borough and these will quickly become oversubscribed.
"The figures will also change when people come to accept or decline the places they have been offered. Two of our schools - Teddington and Orleans Park - have had more than 1,000 applications, which is testament to their high standards."
