{
 "id": "school-offers-england",
 "title": "School applicants offered their first-preference school, England",
 "category": "education",
 "summary": "The share of applicants in England offered their first-preference school on national offer day, for a reception place at a state-funded primary school and for the main entry point to state-funded secondary school, each year since 2014/15, from the Department for Education's school applications and offers statistics.",
 "unit": "percent",
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 "notes": [
  "The headline figures are the number and proportion of children receiving their first preference or a preferred offer.",
  "The data collected is the position as at the respective national offer day. The final numbers of pupils starting in specific schools is likely to be different due to late applicants, refusal of offers, subsequent offers made via a second offer round or the schools’ waiting lists, or successful appeals.",
  "The inclusion of a school by an applicant as one of their preferences does not mean that they meet the admissions criteria for that school.",
  "The local authority receives, and reports on, applications for a school place from parents/guardians who are living within their local authority. However, the applications are in all cases reported within these tables by the local authority to whom the application is made (that is, the one in which the child is resident).",
  "At secondary level the application is for the main entry point into secondary school in that local authority. For local authorities with more than one entry point, the intake with the largest number of places available is the one reported. Places at schools such as UTCs and Studio Schools whose intake is in year 10 (at age 14), and other schools who do not offer places via the co-ordinated admissions process, are not included in these figures.",
  "England's secondary figures include Central Bedfordshire's main entry point: “Until 2025 this was year 7 for all local authorities except Central Bedfordshire, whose largest entry point was in year 9. In 2026 Central Bedfordshire's largest entry point became year 7 and so from that year all the data submitted is for year 7 entry.” (the DfE's methodology).",
  "The preference rates are calculated as a proportion of all applicants who expressed one or more preference.",
  "The local authorities are asked not to provide data on school places offered to children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan since the parents of these children were not required to apply for their school place.",
  "Each year is the DfE's figure for England in its latest file, which gives every year from 2014/15.",
  "“Primary and secondary suppression was applied in the 2014 dataset. No suppression has been applied from 2015 onwards.” (the release's data guidance) England's counts for 2014/15 are given whole and its regions' in tens; that year its regions' counts do not add to England's, nor do England's preferred, other and no offers add to its applications.",
  "The Department for Education publishes these as official statistics. Its data is released under the Open Government Licence, as its data guidance says; it names no version."
 ],
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