More Families applying for Devon Secondary School Places

Devon County Council have announced today that 90.4 per cent of families who applied for a place next September have been offered their first preference. In all, 96.8 per cent of families will get one of their four preferences.

There’s been another increase in the number of families applying for a place in a Devon secondary school this year.

We’ve announced today that 90.4 per cent of families who applied for a place next September have been offered their first preference.

In all, 96.8 per cent of families will get one of their four preferences.

This year, we received 7,779 applications for a place at a Devon secondary school. That’s up from 7,697 last year and 6,778 in 2021.

Nationally last year saw the highest number of applicants to state secondaries in England since records began in 2014 with 614,000 students needing a place – up 1.5 per cent on the year before.

Parents will be notified of their places today and our admissions team will be available to deal with enquiries supported by the schools team at Devon’s Customer Service Centre.

Devon’s Cabinet Member for schools, Andrew Leadbetter, said:

“When the national statistics are released, it’s likely that Devon will, once again, have one of the best figures for meeting school preferences.

“It is a testament to the hard work of our admissions and school organisation teams and the partnership and co-operation we have received from the heads, staff and governors of Devon’s secondary schools that more than nine out of 10 families have received their first preference even though applications continue to rise.

“However, we recognise that some families will be disappointed and ideally we would like all families to receive their first preference.

“These are obviously early statistics and are quite likely to improve even more before September as appeals are heard and other factors are taken into account, such as parents not taking up places they have been offered.”