Newham’s schools are bucking the national trend where a third of pupils do not get the secondary school of their choice.

Figures released by the Pan-London Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme have shown that almost 80 per cent of students got a place at their first choice of secondary school.

Across London there was an average of 65 per cent pupils getting their first choice. In Newham the figure was 79.9 per cent. There is only one borough with a higher percentage of pupils getting the secondary school of their first choice - Bexley which has 81.1 per cent.

Councillor Quintin Peppiatt, cabinet member for children and young people, told the Recorder: “Newham Council and the borough’s schools have worked hard to make sure that parents can access the information that will help them make informed choices. There is also an excellent partnership working between our local primary and secondary schools.

“We have been championing the use of online applications and also use an application called School finder which enables parents to calculate the distance from their home to their school of choice. To support parents we also run sessions in our primary schools with all Year 6 families to discuss the process and difficulties of getting into secondary schools.”

The Pan-London Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme began in 2005 with aims of simplifying the application process for secondary school admissions and increasing the number of pupils who receive an offer from one of their preferred schools.