One in six eleven year olds across the country failed to secure a place at their first choice school for this September when offers were made on March 1, according to figures released by the Department for Education.
In certain areas more than half of all children applying to secondary schools were rejected by their first choice, while across the country some 22,000 did not qualify for any of their top three school choices.
The number of pupils who were not granted places by their first choice school was 8,000 lower than in 2010, but there were 17,500 fewer applications this year due to a decline in the birth rate.
Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said the figures showed that too many schools were underperforming and Britain was falling behind other leading countries in its standard of education.
He said: "These figures expose the fact that there simply aren’t enough good schools."
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