I am writing to reassure parents that the local authority, Kingston Council, will provide the offer of a reception place to every child who has applied this year.

As in many parts of the country, the scale of applications in Kingston exceeded our forecasted information.

Forecasting is not an exact science and we are making plans to improve the information gathering that is available to us in the future.

Some parents have raised concerns about the sharp growth in applications impacting on the availability of places this year.

More parents have been offered their first preferences this year (1,350 compared with 1,313 last year), and more children received an offer at one of their first three preferences (1,540 this year, compared with 1,463 in 2007).

It is important to remember that we are still in the middle of the allocations process.

After May 14, when parents accept or decline the offer they have received, we will know how many additional places we will need to provide.

This is not a situation we have experienced in Kingston before, but we are working closely with our schools to ensure that the additional places that we need to provide are in the parts of the borough they are most required.

Until then we will continue to keep parents informed of any changes that may impact on their own situation.

Patrick Leeson
Director of children and learning services
Kingston Council
Guildhall