Thousands of children missed out on a place at their preferred school in the West Midlands this year, official Department for Education figures reveal.
Across England, 8% of primary school applicants and 17% of secondary school applicants did not get a place at their first choice school, affecting nearly 150,000 children in total.
In the West Midlands, 12,367 of applicants did not get into their first choice secondary school. This meant 18.5% of secondary aged children did not get a place at their first choice school - higher than the national average.
Inner London was found to have the hardest schools to get into in the country. One in every eight children (13%) did not get into their first choice primary school. This rose to one in three (33%) for secondary school places.
How competitive is it to get into your local secondary school? Here we reveal which Birmingham secondary schools are the hardest to get into.
Here are the top 10 hardest Birmingham primary schools to get into
1. Eden Girls' Leadership Academy, Birmingham
Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy in Birmingham had 507 first preference applications for its 124 places, meaning just 24.1% of those who put it down first got in Photo: Photo from Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy, Small Heath
2. Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy, Alum Rock
Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy had 406 first place preference applications for its 123 places, meaning 28.1% of those who put it down as first choice got in Photo: Google Street View
3. Eden Boys’ School, Handsworth
Just 32.3% of applicants who had the school down as first choice got a place in the school Photo: Google Street View
4. Nishkam High School, Lozells
The school had 210 first place preference applications for its 97 places, meaning 37.6% of those who put it down as first choice got in Photo: Google Street View