Across England, 8% of primary school applicants and 17% of secondary school applicants did not get a place at their first choice school, affecting nearly 150,000 children in total.
In the South East, 8.8% of applicants did not get into their first choice primary school and 16.7% did not secure a place at their preferred secondary school. This meant 8,312 primary and 16,978 secondary aged children did not get a place at their first choice school.
Inner London was found to have the hardest schools to get into in the country. One in every eight children (13%) did not get into their first choice primary school. This rose to one in three (33%) for secondary school places.
How competitive is it to get into your local primary school? Here we reveal which primary schools in the Mid Sussex area are the hardest to get into.
9. Bolnore Village Primary School, Bolnore Village
Bolnore Village Primary School had 62 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 55 of these were offered places. This means 7 or 11.3% did not get a place. Photo: Liz Pearce
10. St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Haywards Heath
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School had 64 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 57 of these were offered places. This means 7 or 10.9% did not get a place. Photo: Steve Robards
11. Balcombe CofE Controlled Primary School, Balcombe
Balcombe CofE Controlled Primary School had 22 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 20 of these were offered places. This means 2 or 9.1% did not get a place. Photo: Google
12. Hassocks Infant School, Hassocks
Hassocks Infant School had 98 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 90 of these were offered places. This means 8 or 8.2% did not get a place. Photo: Erika Woodhurst-Trueman