Most Central Bedfordshire children offered first-preference school
Friday, 17 April 2020
Yesterday (Thursday, 16 April), children across Central Bedfordshire discovered where they will be starting school or transferring to middle school in September.
Out of the applications for a primary or lower school for September 2020, 95% of families in Central Bedfordshire have received their first preference. For children who are due to transfer to middle school in September, 89% of applicants got their first preference.
Councillor Sue Clark, our Executive Member for Families, Education and Children, said:
Our School Admissions team works tremendously hard to ensure as many children as possible are allocated their first preference of school, so we’re delighted that a high percentage families have received this welcome piece of good news.
We also recognise that there will be a small percentage of children that didn’t get the offer they’d hoped for and I’d urge them to look on our website which has information on possible next steps.
More than 94% of applications for school starters and 96% of those transferring to middle school were made online – an increase of 5% and 1% respectively – and these families received an email with their offer yesterday morning, with offer letters for other applicants sent out by post on the same day.
Parents who wish to change the place their child has been offered should submit a change of preference form by Thursday 30 April. These will then be considered – along with any late applications – on Thursday 21 May, for middle schools, and Monday 1 June, for starting school.