AN ANXIOUS wait will end tomorrow for thousands of parents and carers of young children.

Some 7,500 admissions letters will be arriving at homes throughout Kirklees containing the name of the school their child will attend from September.

And the vast majority will be happy, with only about 350 failing to get their first or second-choice school.

A total of 5,516 were sent out to parents and carers of reception class children, 89.1% of whom were granted places at their first choice schools.

Just over 5% will be attending their second choice school, which leaves 309 youngsters without either.

Over 91% of the 1,569 children transferring to junior school received their first choice, with 4% getting their second choice. According to the figures, this leaves 48 infant school pupils without either of their preferred schools.

Children transferring to middle school fared better, with every one of the 313 being granted their first choice.

The admissions letters are being sent out at a time of increasing numbers of school-age children in Kirklees. Some areas, such as North Huddersfield with Birkby, Fixby, Lindley, Reinwood and Moorlands schools, are particularly oversubscribed.

Lindley Junior School, George Street, is already one of the largest in the area with 485 pupils. Although it recently converted to academy status, Kirklees Council still sends out the admission letters.

Birkby Infant and Nursery School, Blacker Road, last month submitted a plan to Kirklees Council to build a two-storey modular building to house two permanent extra classrooms in the grounds. The proposed cost would be just over £1 million.

The school, built in Victorian times, plans to increase its capacity from 360 to 450 pupils. The closing date for public consultation is Monday, May 7.

Recent changes have been introduced to the admissions system nationally which will make the whole structure fairer and simpler, according to the Government.

It claims that the old system was too complicated, unfair and unjust as it undermined parent choice and rationed places at good schools.

Under the new structure, all 800,000 primary school letters were sent out nationally on Monday. This is in line with secondary schools where all places were announced on March 1.

Adopted children are given special priority under the new system.

The Government’s revised codes contain just half as many of the 650 old mandatory requirements placed on local authorities and have been slimmed down from 138 to 61 pages.