One in six 11-year-olds have not been offered a place in their preferred secondary school this year, as pupil numbers continue to rise in England, government statistics published this morning reveal.

They also show that more than 26,600 secondary applicants did not get into any of their top three choices.

There were 12,040 more applications from 11-year-olds for September 2015 than last year and a slight drop in the proportion of secondary applicants getting into their first choice of school. This year 84.2 per cent of secondary applicants were offered a place at their favoured school. Last year it was 85.2 per cent.

The statistics also show that the chances of getting into your preferred school vary widely across the country. For secondary applicants, 55.3 per cent of those in Hammersmith and Fulham got their first choice, compared to 99.7 per cent of those in central Bedfordshire.

Among primary applicants, only 59 per cent of those in Kensington and Chelsea got into their first choice, compared with 97 per cent of those on the Isle of Wight. Nationally, 87.8 per cent of primary applicants were offered a place at their favoured school - almost the same percentage as last year despite there being 12,753 more applications.

Among primary applicants, 95.9 got into one of their top three schools. This means that about 26,000 primary pupils did not get into any of their top three choices.