THERE has been a rise in the number of applicants receiving a place at their first choice primary schools in York.

Admission figures for entry in September 2018 reveal that 94.2 per cent of York applicants have been given their first preference.

City of York Council’s figures, published today, show that 99.4 per cent of applicants got one of their first three preferences.

The percentage of applicants achieving their first preference has increased by 1.3 per cent between 2017 and 2018.

The percentage of online applications for primary school places has continued to increase.

Parents who applied online will be notified of their child’s place by email at 10am today. Letters are being posted today to parents and those with online accounts can log in to the council’s parent portal at www.york.gov.uk/parentportal.

In 2018, all children within the local authority area have secured a primary school place.

The number of children whose preferences were not able to be met has reduced from 25 in 2017 to 11 in 2018.

The total size of the cohort starting school in September 2018 is 1,935 pupils, down from 1,968 last year.

Meanwhile, in the East Riding, 3,063 applicants living in the county applied for 2018/2019 reception places at infant and primary schools, with 99.2 per cent getting places at one of their three choices of school and 97.7 per cent getting their first choice of school.

A total of 19 of the 118 primary and infant schools in the East Riding are oversubscribed.

There are 23 applicants who could not be given places at any of their three chosen schools.