Children across Somerset are finding out which secondary school they will be attending this September.

Early figures from PA show that 92.32 per cent of youngsters in Somerset have been placed in their first-choice secondary school. 

Across the county, there were 4,517 applications, compared to 4,363 the year before. 

Around half a million families across the UK are finding out which school they have been allocated on National Offer Day.

Figures show in some parts of the country, virtually all youngsters have been offered their first choice, while in others, many are facing disappointment.

Last year, around one in six (15.9 per cent), did not get their top preference, amid a 2.8 per cent rise in applications, with 548,006 submitted in total.

Overall figures for this year will not be released by the Department for Education until June, but a Press Association survey of local councils gives an indication of the situation around the country.

A number of councils are again reporting an increase in applications.

The figures come amid continuing concerns about a squeeze on school places, caused in part by a recent rise in the birthrate, that is now seeing its way through into secondary schools.

A Press Association analysis of Department for Education (DfE) data shows that between 2015 2016, more than half of the nation's towns and counties saw a fall in the proportions of 11-year-olds winning a place at their first choice.

Last year, 80 out of 151 local councils (53 per cent) saw a drop in the proportion of pupils given their first choice of secondary school, compared with the year before, while 68 authorities (45 per cent) saw a fall in the percentage given one of their overall preferences.

Families typically list a number of choices, in order of preference, on school application forms.

More than half (57 per cent) of authorities, 85 in total, have seen a fall in the proportion of 11-year-olds offered their first secondary school preference over the past five years, while around two-thirds, 98 councils (65 per cent), have seen a drop in overall choices during this time.

A DfE spokeswoman said: "The proportion of parents getting a place at their first choice of school remains stable, and last year almost all parents got an offer at one of their top three preferred schools.

"Nearly 600,000 additional pupil places were created between May 2010 and May 2015, and the Government is now pushing ahead with the creation of a further 600,000 new school places as part of its wider £23 billion investment in the school estate up to 2021."

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Parents should be aware that government policy is helping to create a lottery in the supply of school places between different areas of the country. In some areas there is pressure on places, while in others there is spare capacity. One reason for this situation is that new free schools are not always opened in the areas of greatest demographic need, especially at secondary level.

"Where this is the case, a new free school may create spare capacity in the area, and this can affect pupil numbers, and therefore funding, at neighbouring schools, and in the new free school itself. The government believes this creates competition and drives up standards but there is no evidence that this is the case and it may damage existing good schools in the area."