Just under nine in 10 Bolton children have been offered a place at their first-choice primary school.
This amid a nerve-wracking day for children and parents all over the country when primary school choices have been unveiled for thousands of children.
In Bolton 87 per cent of soon to be primary pupils have been given places at their first choice, coming to a total of 3,290 children.
Bolton National Education Union assistant district secretary Julia Simpkins said: “What most parents and most children want is to go to a good school and to be with their friends.
“In the past we have had a situation where children have had to go quite a long way to get to school, which means the children they are mixing with in school are often not the same as the children they are mixing with at home.
“And everyone needs friends, don’t they?”
The figures released by Bolton Council show that 97 per cent of children where offered a place at any of their preferences, coming to a total of 3,642.
Just three per cent of children, 129 in Bolton as a whole, have had to make do with an alternative offer.
But the 87 per cent who have received a first-place offer marks a slight per cent age fall from 2023 when 89 per cent were relieved to found out they would be going to their first choice.
Last year also saw 97 per cent of children receiving an offer at any of their preferences, the same as this year.
But the actual number of children this represented was slightly lower at 3,571 compared to this year’s 3,642.
The proportion of children who had to accept alternative offers also stayed the same at three per cent, though the number itself rose from 120 in 2023 to 129 this year.
A total of 3,771 children were offered places at primary schools across Bolton this year compared to 3,511 last year.
Ms Simkins, a retired teacher herself, has warned that she believes Bolton may need more primary schools in the future to help ensure that all children are given a good education.
She says she believes the government’s insistence on new schools being opened as academies or free schools means that primaries have been neglected when compared to secondaries.
Ms Simkins said: “The number of primary schools that have been opened as academies is actually very small.
“Investors are not really interested in opening primary schools and so that is why we end up with primary schools in Bolton having larger class sizes and having to teach children in portacabins.”
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Bolton Council has said that officials work hard to ensure that youngsters are offered places at one of their preferred choices and that alternative offers are usually close by their homes.
A spokesperson said: “We are delighted that 97 per cent of children in Bolton have been offered a place at one of their preferred primary schools.
“Every effort is made to find an appropriate place for everyone.
“Almost all alternative offers made are for schools within a mile of the child’s home.
“The start of school is an exciting time and teachers and staff across the borough will be looking forward to welcoming new pupils to the classroom in September.”
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