Get the tissues ready .. 8,300 Northamptonshire boys and girls are off to their first-choice primary school in September

Thousands of mums and dads across Northamptonshire are finding out today where their little boys and girls' first day at 'big school' will be in September.

Letters confirming places at primary school for the county's 8,900 kids are due to be delivered via the Northamptonshire County Council website today (Thursday April 16).

Of those, around 8,300 will be going to their first-choice school.

Councillor Fiona Baker, county council cabinet member for children’s services, families and education, said: “Despite the large number of applications in Northamptonshire, 93.1 per cent of applicants received an offer at their first preference school which is great news for children across the county.

“The number of families receiving a place at one of their preferred schools is also the highest on record for a second year running, at 98.6 per cent, with thousands of children securing a place at a school they listed as a preference.

“We continue to work hard to create additional pupil places to meet demand and to make sure children have a bright future, living and learning in our county.”

Parents who missed out on a place at their preferred school have the right to appeal through the independent appeals process.

Places for the county's 8,800 students moving to secondary schools in September were announced last month.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.