Hundreds of Hertfordshire youngsters will today discover they have missed out on winning a place at any of their favoured primary schools, figures have revealed.

School admissions statistics released by Hertfordshire County Council have revealed 895 pupils were not given any of the three primary schools they listed as their preferred choices.

County Hall said 95 per cent of children were handed a place at one of their four shortlisted schools – but 135 youngsters in south west Hertfordshire currently have nowhere to go in September.

However, of the 15,267 children who applied for a reception place to start this September, 12,425 children were offered a place at their first preferred school - an increase of 255 on last year.

The news is being broken by email today to parents who applied for a place for their child online, while offer letters are being sent by first class post and are expected to arrive at applicants’ homes by tomorrow.

And parents are being reminded to ensure that once they have received their offer they remember to accept or appeal it.

Applicants who have not been offered their first preference school will automatically be placed on the continuing interest list for any schools named higher on their application form than the school offered.

An extra 325 places have been made available for under 11s since applications, including 30 new places at Wood End School in Harpenden and 30 places at Prae Wood Primary School in St Albans.

They will both be admitting additional pupils through the continuing interest process for September 2015:

Andrew Simmons, deputy director for children’s services and education, said: "We want all children to have access to a good education so they can reach their full potential, with the right number of school places in the right location, so I’m delighted that the vast majority of children have been allocated one of their ranked schools.

"This is a significant challenge given there are 10,000 more children under the age of four in Hertfordshire today than a decade ago.

"However, we are committed to ensuring that where the county’s population grows we build the appropriate infrastructure and have spent £170m to provide more than 3,000 additional reception places, including 195 permanent places for September 2015."

All parents and carers offered a school place must respond by April 30.

Those children currently not allocated a school place should be offered one at the first run of continuing interest in the week commencing May 11.

The deadline to submit an appeal is 4pm on May 19. For more information, click here. 

Are you unhappy with the allocations? Get in touch via email: charlotte.ikonen@london.newsquest.co.uk or comment below.