SURREY has offered nearly 85 per cent of pupils their first preference secondary school after processing a record number of applications.

On secondary school offer day, the proportion of applicants given one of their top three preferred schools rose to nearly 95 per cent.

Figures from Surrey County Council also showed the number of secondary school applications topped 11,000 for the first time. A total of 11,132 pupils applied for places for September 2016 – an increase of more than 200 on last year.

With 96 per cent of the county’s secondary schools now rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the figures highlight the growing demand for 11-plus education in the county.

Council education chiefs says the figures show:–

• 84.5 per cent of applicants were offered their first preference school – up from 82.4 per cent last year

• 94.6 per cent were offered one of their top three choices – it was 93.3 per cent in 2015.

•Altogether 11,132 Surrey residents applied for secondary school places – up 1.9 per cent from 10,929 last year.

At Haslemere’s Woolmer Hill School, 63 applicants were awarded places as their first preference, 11 as their second and six as their third choice.

Rodborough Technology College, in Milford, recorded 181 first preference awards, two seconds and no thirds.

Linda Kemeny, the county’s member for schools, said: “I’m pleased we’ve been able to offer the vast majority of Surrey pupils a school of their choice and this in a year when more than 11,000 applicants are seeking places – the highest ever number.

“With 94 per cent now rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, Surrey secondary schools are increasingly popular and we make every effort to provide extra places where they are most wanted.

“But applications to primary schools have been rising steadily and these pupils are beginning to transfer to secondary schools so demand for secondary places in many parts of the county will continue to grow strongly in future.”

Mrs Kemeny said the growing demand for school places was not being matched by extra funding from the government.

More than 11,000 extra places were needed across primaries and secondaries in Surrey over the next five years, leaving a shortfall of £30million in each of the next two years alone.