HEREFORDSHIRE Council have announced that  97.1 per cent of parents have been offered their preferred primary school choice for their child attending in September this year.

The authority has made 1,536 offers of places in primary schools across the county with 1491 first preference offers.

The council has made 31 offers for second preferences, which is two per cent of the total offers with a cumulative success rate of 99.1 per cent.

The Herefordshire authority also made six offers for parents’ third preference, which equates to 0.4 per cent of the total offers with a cumulative success rate of 99.5 per cent.

The balance of places offered, which is eight (or 0.5 per cent) were to parents whose preferences could not be met and their offer was for the nearest school to their home address with available spaces.

Last year, 96.5 per cent of parents received their first school preference and 99.3 per cent received a place in one of their three preferences.

As in previous years, Herefordshire schools continue to be a net importer of pupils, with more pupils from neighbouring counties requesting places in the county’s schools than Herefordshire pupils requesting places in other counties.

There are currently nine Herefordshire primary schools with waiting lists and 61 have available spaces.