MORE than 1,000 unhappy parents fought to get their child into the school of their choice, new figures reveal.

In Bolton more than one in 10 ­— 11.5 per cent cent ­— parents appealed the school place their youngster was allocated ­— way above the North West and England average.

Figures released by department for education show that during the academic year 2019/2020, 1,009 admission appeals were lodged by parents, of those 622 were were primary school.

Of the total appeals lodged 143 ­— 17.2 per cent ­— were successful ­— 88 for primary school and 55 for secondary schools.

The success rate was below the North West average of 23.2 per cent and the country's average of 21.2 per cent.

Since 2016, the number of appeals lodged has nearly doubled, and the success rate has started to increase again. In 2016, 21.6 per cent appeals resulted in a successful outcome, that fell to 11.4 per cent in 2019 before started to increase again in the last academic year.

The number of children receiving a place at their parent's first choice school has declined in both the primary and the secondary sector.

In primary school the figure has declined from 90.5 per cent of children receiving their first choice place in 2014.15 to 88 per cent in 2019/20.

For secondary schools was 88.5 per cent to 80.9 per cent in the same year.

The number of applications received over that time period have also increased dramatically, forcing the council to embark on a ambitious expansion programme to increase the number of school places.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said:“Against a backdrop of unprecedented demand in Bolton over recent years, we have been able to offer a school place within the borough to every child who has applied.

“In the overwhelming majority of cases, applicants are offered one of their preferred places for both primary and secondary school.

“There are a number of reasons why parents may choose to appeal their child’s school allocation and the appeals process takes these considerations into account.”