AFTER an anxious wait for news of secondary school places, pupils and parents will today receive an allocation offer from Gloucestershire County Council.

All parents in the county will be offered one school place for pupils going to secondary school in September.

Gloucestershire parents will have until March 14 to accept their school place or request an alternative school.

All parents and carers of children in Gloucestershire who applied for a school place online should have received an email confirming their school place after 9am this morning.

All other parents and carers will receive written notification of their child’s allocated school in the post.

Charlotte Jones, Senior Admissions Manager at the county council, said; "This can be a stressful time for pupils and parents and our Admissions and Transfer Team have worked very hard to try to ensure that as many pupils as possible get one of their preferred schools.

"This year, at this stage, 96 per cent of pupils have received a place at one of their preferred schools, and 85 per cent have been offered their first preference.

"Pupil numbers in some parts of the County have risen but all 6,767 children will receive an offer of a school place within Gloucestershire or in a neighbouring county in line with parental preferences."

If parents ask for their child's allocation to be reconsidered, they will be placed on the waiting list for their preferred school(s).

If places then become available, they will be allocated in strict accordance with the published admissions criteria for the school.

Even if parents are unhappy with their initial allocation, they are encouraged to keep their allocated place as this will ensure that, whatever the outcome of the reconsideration, their child will have a place at a school in September.

For the admission criteria and more information about waiting lists for every school visitgloucestershire.gov.uk/schooladmissions.