Almost 90 per cent of parents and carers in North Yorkshire secured their preferred secondary school for their child, continuing the county’s high level of success in recent years.
A total of 89.83% secured their first preference with almost 97% of all families in the county who requested a school place for September 2026 receiving an offer from North Yorkshire Council for one of their top three preferences of secondary school.
Nationally, 83.5 per cent of applicants received an offer for their first-choice school last year.
This year, 6,059 pupils from the county are transferring to secondary school.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, said:
“Starting secondary school is a major milestone in a child’s education and we always want the admissions process to be as easy as possible for families.
“I am delighted with the number of young people allocated their first preference secondary school in North Yorkshire.
“We continue to work hard to ensure our secondary schools have the capacity to meet the requests for places and we are proud of our education record which strives to give every child the best start in life.”
She added:
“I would like to thank our schools for all their support and for working so closely with families to ensure the council received as many on-time applications as possible.
“I wish all children who are moving from primary to secondary school this September every success and happiness.”
Within North Yorkshire, parents of Year 6 children can state their preference for up to five schools on their common application form.
For children currently in Year 5 who are due to start secondary school in September 2027, parents and carers will be able to apply from September 12, 2026, and are asked to make use of the opportunity to list five school preferences on the form.
Parents and carers are being reminded that, now that school places have been allocated, North Yorkshire Council will review eligibility for free home‑to‑school transport and will notify families of the outcome by email by May 18.
Free travel is provided to the nearest suitable school for pupils from Reception to Year 11 if it is more than the statutory walking distances of two miles for children under eight, and more than three miles for children aged eight and up.
Children may also qualify for free travel if the route they walk to their nearest school is under these distances and is assessed as being unsafe, or if they have additional needs.
More information is available online at www.northyorks.gov.uk/HomeToSchool where you can also watch a short video explaining some of the frequently asked questions about free school travel.
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