The overwhelming majority of school children in Sutton secured a place at one of their preferred secondary schools on the UK's National Offer Day 2021 yesterday (March 1).

Sutton Council said that it had "outperformed" other authorities in London with more than 95 per cent of pupils in the borough securing a place at a preferred secondary school.

Some 95.4 percent of pupils were offered a place at one of their preferred schools in Sutton, compared to a reported 93.3 percent of children across the rest of London, the council said.

A total of 87.3 percent of Sutton pupils were offered a place at one of their top three choices of secondary school, with 66.2 percent getting into their first preference school, according to figures released on National Secondary School Offer Day by the Pan London Admissions Board.

London-wide, parents saw a drop in receiving a first preference offer in 2021, "primarily due to late selection testing" according to the council, who said it had particular impacted boroughs like Sutton that have selective schools such as Grammar schools in their area.

"This has been such an unprecedented year where pupils of all ages have had to adapt to new styles of learning as a result of Covid-19," Cllr Marian James, chair of the People Committee at Sutton Council, said.

"It is fantastic to see that this has not limited children and young people’s ambitions," she added.

"As a Council we are ambitious for our local children and young people and have an excellent track record of providing high quality school places to our growing pupil population.

"Every child and young person should have the opportunity to get a good education which is why I’m pleased that once again a vast majority of children in Sutton are being offered a place at one of their preferred schools."

Parents and carers who applied online will receive an email notifying them to log on to their account and check their outcome here.

Those who were unable to apply online will either receive an email or a letter notifying them of their outcome.