95% of children get place at one of their preferred schools

Of the 15,267 applications for school places received by the county council, 14,408 have been allocated a ranked primary school.

Of these, 12,425 were allocated their first ranked school - an increase of 255 on last year.

This is despite an increase of 392 applications compared to last year.

Applicants who have not been offered their first preference school will automatically be placed on the continuing interest list for any schools that they marked as second, third or fourth preferences.

An extra 325 places have been made available through this process, including 30 at Abbots Langley School.

Extra places have also been made available at schools in St Albans, Watford, Harpenden, Bishop’s Stortford, Bushey, Cheshunt, Hitchin, Hoddesdon and Letchworth.

Andrew Simmons, deputy director for children’s services and education said: “We want all children to have access to a good education so they can reach their full potential, with the right number of school places in the right location, so I’m delighted that the vast majority of children have been allocated one of their ranked schools.

“This is a significant challenge given there are 10,000 more children under the age of four in Hertfordshire today than a decade ago.

“However, we are committed to ensuring that where the county’s population grows we build the appropriate infrastructure and have spent £170m to provide more than 3,000 additional reception places, including 195 permanent places for September 2015.”

Parents and carers who have registered an email address will be sent their allocations from 6pm today (Thursday).

Allocation information will then be made available online at www.hertsdirect.org/primaryoptions.