IN PICTURES: The hardest secondary schools in the Harrogate district to get into in 2023

Nine in 10 pupils in North Yorkshire were admitted to their first-choice secondary school, new figures show.

The Association of School and College Leaders said the rising number of secondary school pupils is putting pressure on applications, especially in more affluent areas that have schools with good or outstanding Ofsted ratings.

New figures show 5,897 children applied for a place at a secondary school in North Yorkshire for the 2023/24 academic year.

Of them, 5,366 (91%) were admitted to their first choice, while 5,778 (98%) received a place from at least one school in their top five.

Nationally, 82.6% of secondary school applicants received an offer from their first choice for 2023-24 – down from 83.3% the year before – while the proportion securing a place from any of their favoured schools fell slightly from 95.8% in 2022-23 to 95.6%.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the ASCL, said the slight fall in pupils receiving their first offer could be due to the rising number of applications – some 619,991 pupils applied for a secondary school place for 2023-24, the highest number since records began in 2014-15.

In North Yorkshire, the total number of applications rose as well.

Meanwhile, the proportion of children receiving their first choice decreased, as would be expected.

Here we take a look at the secondary schools in the Harrogate district which are the hardest to get into, based on figures from the Department for Education, showing the proportion of families putting it as their first choice who were successful in getting a place...