Families disappointed as dozens miss out on first-choice high school

With a high birth year contributing to a particularly large year group, St Helens Council had identified that there were insufficient places for Year 7 pupils across the borough's schools this coming September.

Some schools had to increase their pupil admission number to adjust to the high volume, but this still left many disappointed pupils missing out on the school they had been hoping for.

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A higher than usual year group has been recorded for the next year of Year 7 pupils (Image: PA)

One school that was particularly oversubscribed was Sutton Academy, on Elton Head Road, which had been marked down by 556 children as one of their three preferences.

With a capped number of 270 pupils for each year group, this meant that 92 children were not admitted to the next cohort of pupils despite naming it as their first choice.

This has caused great distress to one family, who moved to Sutton three years ago to ensure that their children could go to their preferred choice of school.

Although their daughter did not go to a feeder primary school, they believed that she would be admitted as they now live in close proximity to the school and her older brother attends the Academy.

School places are capped to prevent overcrowding and disruption (Image: PA)

The parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "We were shocked and disappointed to be unsuccessful because our daughter lives a five-minute walk away from the school and her brother is already a pupil there.

"She will now have to go to a school three miles and two bus rides away. I think it's not only a health and safety issue but a safeguarding issue because she's not prepared for this.

"We know of many other parents in our situation, and the whole process and appeal system feels flawed and dismissive of any complaints that we tried to raise."

Sutton Academy received its first ever 'Good' Ofsted rating last year (Image: Sutton Academy)

Following a major refurbishment of Sutton Academy and its first ever 'Good' Ofsted rating in June 2022, the number of pupils with the Academy as their preferred choice has been steadily increasing.

With year group figures jumping from 240 to 270 in 2019, the Academy will be oversubscribed in all five year groups for the first time in its history this September. This has left further concerns about the potential of growing waiting lists, however, particularly with the number of housing developments around Sutton.

While there has been an exceptionally large year group this year, St Helens Council stressed that its school admissions team works "exceptionally hard" to provide pupils with one of their preferred options - with just over 90 percent granted admission to their first-choice school for September 2023.

The council admission team works closely with schools across the borough (Image: St Helens Council)

A council spokesperson said: "With applications up this year, we identified there were insufficient Year 7 pupil places for September 2023, and approached a number of secondary schools and academies to temporarily increase their pupil admission number (PAN) for one year to accommodate the one-off higher than usual year 7 intake.  

“Some schools and academies did increase their PANs, supporting the local authority to meet its statutory duty to provide a secondary school place for all children in the borough, as well as ensuring pupils who were attending their associated primary schools would be allocated a place.   

"We constantly review school places to ensure there is always capacity and works closely with Planning colleagues regarding proposed new builds and the potential impact it will have on services and infrastructure, including schools. 

"Historically, year on year, we have a high success rate of allocating the top three preferences for both primary and secondary school places and have met our statutory responsibility in ensuring that all children transitioning into year 7 have been provided with a secondary school place for September 2023. 

"Our admissions team are always on hand to answer any application queries and the right to an independent appeal is available to those who miss out on their preferred schools.”