FIGURES have revealed the most in-demand primary schools in the Braintree and Witham area for children starting this September.

The data, from Essex County Council, also shows which schools had the least amount of applicants for the upcoming academic year.

The volume of applications can vary depending on a number of factors.

The most popular five schools in Braintree and Witham were Chipping Hill Primary, Great Bradfords Infant and Nursery, Howbridge Infants, Lyons Hall Primary, and White Court.

Chipping Hill Primary topped the list, with 115 children putting it as their first choice out of the 241 total applications.

Lyons Hall was a close second, with 216 total applicants.

In third was Howbridge Infants, in which 63 chose it as their first choice and 61 as their second.

The school offered out 90 places in total.

There were 90 places given out for Great Bradfords Infant and Nursery, of which 100 per cent had selected it as their first choice.

White Court was fifth and followed a similar trend.

There were 63 who had chosen it as their first choice, and all of these were admitted, with 66 places given out in total.

Across Essex out of a total of 16,067 applications which were received on time, 14,382 pupils who are due to start in reception year in September 2022 have been offered their parent or carer's first preference of primary school.

This equates to 89.51 per cent of the total eligible cohort and is equivalent to the 89.75 per cent who obtained their first preference last year.

Another 6.45 per cent of children were offered their parent's second preference of school.

Tony Ball, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for education excellence, lifelong learning and employability, said: “We continue to invest in creating additional primary school capacity so that as many parents and carers as possible receive their first preference of school for their child.

“I am pleased that this year we have again been able to offer thousands of first preference places. I would like to wish every child starting primary school this year the very best of luck for an exciting school year ahead.