Almost 60 children in Westminster are without a primary school place today as the borough announced its allocations to parents.

But Westminster Council said it does expect it will be able to find every child a place within the borough before the start of the school year in September.

The figure, representing four per cent of all applications for places, is down on the previous year’s 144 children. But overall, nearly eight in 10 children, or 78.3 per cent, got into their first-choice school, up from 72.7 per cent last year.

Almost 93 per cent were granted a place in one of their top-three choices for the forthcoming academic year – the highest level since records began.

In all 1,418 applications were received, down from 1,588 from the previous year.

Cllr Danny Chalkley, Westminster’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “This is excellent news. As any parent of young children will tell you getting a school place can be a stressful time.

“We have some excellent primary schools in the city, so the fact so many residents have got their children into one of their top choices will be a huge relief for them.”