84% of city parents get preferred secondary school

The proportion of Brighton & Hove parents offered a place at their preferred secondary school has gone up considerably this year.

Nearly 84% of parents have been offered their first preference school this year, compared to just over 79% last year.

All parents who expressed a preference for their catchment area school or schools have been offered either a catchment area school or a higher preference.

The breakdown of first, second and third preferences is as follows: 

  2019 2020
First preferences offered 2,169 pupils (79.3%) 2,158 (83.87%)
Second preferences offered 304 pupils (8.1%)   237 (9.21%)
Third preferences offered 136 pupils (5%) 79 (3.07%)
No preference offered 125 pupils (4.6%) 99 (3.85%)

The total number of pupils this year is 2,573 compared with 2,734 last year.

In instances where no preferred school was offered, this was either because parents didn’t list their catchment area school / schools among their preferences or because they missed the applications deadline.

The chair of the council’s children, young people and skills committee, Councillor John Allcock, said: “I’m really pleased we’ve been able to offer so many parents their preferred secondary school.

“But the best news of all for local parents is that all our secondary schools are now rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

“This is thanks to the work and dedication of our excellent teachers, governors and support staff working effectively in partnership with each other and with the council’s education team.

“So children and young people are assured of a high quality education whichever school they go to."

To contact our school admissions team please email schooladmissions@brighton-hove.gov.uk or phone (01273) 293 653.