More than 98 per cent of Somerset children were offered a secondary school place at one of their top three choices, the county council’s latest school admission statistics show.

Figures show that 93.56 per cent received their first choice compared to 94.18 per cent in 2019.

Overall, the figures show 98.19 per cent of applicants being offered a place at one of their top three secondary school preferences, a slight increase on last year’s figure of 97.44 per cent.

Cllr Faye Purbrick, cabinet member for Education and Transformation, said: “It’s great to see so many students continuing to secure places at their first-choice school, and so many being offered one of their preferences. We are investing substantially into school buildings to make sure we have the spaces in the right places to meet the preferences of as many families as possible and we will continue to do this.

“Processing more than 4,500 applications and matching children to their preferences is a huge challenge and I’d like to thank all the staff involved. I wish all the children moving on to secondary school the very best as they start the next stage of their education.”

From the applications received this year figures show:

First preference met – 93.56 per cent (4,299 applications)

Second preference – 3.98 per cent (183 applications)

Third preference – 0.65 per cent (30 applications)