New data has revealed the ‘most oversubscribed’ secondary schools in Bury as next year’s school applications close.
Government figures have been released showing the number of applications submitted for school places in the borough in September 2023 and how many pupils the schools took in.
According to the data the most oversubscribed school in the borough, where the number of parents who chose it as a first preference exceeded the sum of total places offered, was the Manchester Mestiva School in Prestwich.
In the 2023/24 academic year, 177 applications were made to The Manchester Mestiva School as a first preference but only 46 places were offered in total, meaning just 25 per cent of applications were successful.
The second most popular secondary school in the borough was The Hazelwood High School in Bury which accepted around 58 per cent of the total first choice applications they received. It received 256 first preference applications and offered 151 spaces.
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A number of other schools across the borough also received more first choice applications that they had places, including St Monica’s RC High School, Prestwich, which received 316 first choice applications, but offered only 222 places.
The figures, which were published by the Department for Education (DFE) suggest that 92.5 per cent of primary school applications across the UK received an offer their first preference school.
According to the DfE, 620,000 applications across the UK were received for a place at secondary school in 2023. This is the highest number of applications recorded since the timeseries started in 2014.
Other schools which received more first preference applications than they made offers include Bury Church of England High School which had 222 such applications and offered 170 places.
Tottington High School had 245 first preference applications and offered 188 places.
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While many schools in Bury received more applications than they could offer places, other schools in the borough received fewer applications than they had spaces, including Unsworth Academy.
The school, which has a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating, received 47 first choice applications and offered 200 total places.
St Gabriel’s RC High School received 174 first choice applications, received 370 total applications and offered 205 places. Elton High School received 136 first choice application and offered 212 total places.
The DfE said the proportion of secondary applicants receiving an offer of their first-choice school has decreased to 82.6 per cent - down from 83.3 per cent in 2022.
A spokesperson for Bury Council said: “Regarding secondary schools, for several years the borough has experienced high demand for places and, as a result, a number of schools are oversubscribed.
"The local authority is working with its secondary schools to manage this demand until additional capacity becomes available in September 2024 when the Star Academy Radcliffe opens to its first cohort of pupils.”
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