Nearly nine in ten children in Wokingham were offered a place at their first-choice primary school for September 2026, new council figures show. 87.4 per cent of families got their top preference - 1,595 first‑choice offers from 1,833 applications - while 8.4 per cent were offered their second choice, 1.8 per cent their third and 0.4 per cent their fourth.
Only 36 children were left without a school on National Offer Day; places will be allocated as late applications and waiting-list movements are processed, and a further eight applications are still being dealt with after offer day.
Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children's services, said: "I have seen the allocations and it looks like we've managed to accommodate nearly everyone's preferences and it's a good outcome.
"We've managed to give nearly everybody one of their preferred schools despite falling rolls."
While the birth rate is falling nationally, Cllr Bray said this has been partly mitigated in Wokingham by people moving into the borough from Ukraine and Hong Kong. She said: "Wokingham primary school children numbers aren't dropping as fast as in other places, but there are fewer children so we've had to reduce the number of intakes. "That means that there may be fewer places in the school you've applied for."
The overall number of primary applications has fallen over five years: 2,097 in 2022, 1,962 in 2023, 1,836 in 2024, 1,842 in 2025 and 1,833 this year. First-preference rates have dipped from 90.4 per cent in 2022 to 87.4 per cent this year, after figures of 89.5 per cent (2023), 91.0 per cent (2024) and 90.0 per cent (2025).
Very small numbers of pupils were allocated to schools that weren't a stated preference - 36 this year, 21 in 2025 and 16 in 2024. The one part of the borough short of places is Shinfield and Spencers Wood; the council has offered the chance for other existing primary schools to move to Spencers Wood to absorb the extra children in that area.
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
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