Primary school offers day: How are places decided and best schools in the North East

This week sees parents of three and four year olds finding out which primary school has offered their child a place for the next academic year.

Transcript

00:00 This year's Primary School Offers Day falls on the 16th of April.

00:06 Parents of children aged 3 and 4 find out which school has offered their primary age

00:09 child a place from this autumn.

00:11 Last year, 90% of pupils got their first choice school, but how is it decided?

00:16 All schools and local authorities have their own admissions criteria to decide which children

00:20 they will prioritise.

00:21 This criteria can include factors such as living near the school, having a sibling at

00:25 the school, being from a particular religion if it's a faith school, being eligible for

00:29 pupil premium or having a parent who's worked at the school for two years.

00:33 But not all schools are created equal.

00:35 How do you know if the school you've received an offer from is a good one?

00:39 You can check local league tables, Ofsted reports or have a look at the regional Sunday

00:43 Times Best Schools list.

00:45 For the North East, Durham Johnstone Comprehensive School came out on top, followed by Queen Elizabeth

00:49 High School in Hexham and St Mary's Catholic School in Newcastle.

00:54 How do you accept your offer once it's been received?

00:57 Your letter should tell you what to do next. Here in England, the offer has to be formally

01:00 accepted by the given deadline.

01:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]