The proportion of students in England getting into their first-choice secondary school has dropped to its lowest level for a decade as pupil numbers surge, official figures show. Local authorities received 604,500 applications for a place at secondary school in 2019, a 3.7% increase on 2018. This is likely to intensify over the next five years because the number of secondary school pupils is expected to increase by another 376,000. Since 2010 we have created more school places and seen school standards rise, meaning there is a greater opportunity for pupils across the country to go to a good or outstanding school. Ofsted inspected 305 outstanding primary and secondary schools this academic year – more than double the number inspected during the previous academic year.

Source: The Guardian June 13, 2019 13:34 UTC