HUNDREDS of children won’t be going to their parents’ first choice school after Hampshire education bosses allocated school spaces for the next academic year, writes Ed Stilliard and Charlotte Neal.

While many families were happy to hear that their children had places at their chosen schools, at least 1,500 failed to secure their top option.

Figures released this week show that across the county just under 90 per cent of parents applying for a primary school place have been allocated a place at their chosen school for children aged four or five.

Meanwhile 97 per cent have been offered a place at one of their three preferred schools.

With 15,000 applications made to the county council it leaves about 450 parents across the county sending their child to a school that wasn’t one of their top three choices.

One assistant head teacher didn’t receive a letter saying which school her son will be going to in September.

Another mum faces the prospect of sending her daughter to a school two miles away even though her first choice is two streets away.

A spokesman for Hampshire County Council said: “In the small number of cases where parents may not have secured a place for their child at a school of their choice, those parents have the right to appeal and can put their child’s name down on their preferred school’s waiting list.

“Places can become available if parents change their mind, or families move home.”

They added they have expanded a number of schools across the county to provide more spaces for primary school education.

Education bosses are planning to invest £23 million into new schools and school expansions over the current financial year (2015/16).

Compared to 2014 the figures have barely changed – that year 90 per cent of parents got their child into their first choice school and 97 per cent got a place at one of their three preferred schools.

The county council in 2014 dealt with 15,000 applications for primary school places, which was 1,000 more than 2013.

In 2013 one in 10 pupils across Hampshire missed out on their first choice primary school, with 1,122 infants being allocated their second or third preference.

At the time of going to press Hampshire County Council had not responded for the Chronicle’s request for a breakdown of figures for schools in the Winchester City Council area.