HUNDREDS of pupils are set to be disappointed after record numbers of parents fight to get their children into the region’s top schools.

New figures have revealed many parents across Blackburn and Darwen will miss out on their first-choice school as the system is branded ‘chaotic’ by education leaders.

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The National Union of Teachers (NUT) in East Lancashire has slammed the way the application process is handled and has called for more control to be granted to the council instead of central government.

The figures released by Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire County Council show only around one in three youngsters seeking a place at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School will get in, after 761 applications were made for just 125 places, an increase of 254 applications.

The competition for places at St Wilfrid’s CE Academy is also strong after 802 parents applied to send their child there, an increase of 248 on last year.

However, the school only has 246 places up for grabs.

The number of places available in Blackburn with Darwen stands at 2,161 for this September, with just over 2,000 parents vying for places.

But more families than ever are choosing the same schools as their first choice leaving others struggling to meet their requirements, while there has also been and increase in applications from outside the borough.

Fears have been sparked that some schools are being ignored and the applications are not being evenly spread out across the 11 secondary schools.

In contrast to the popular schools, Pleckgate High School, which has 270 places, saw a drop in applications with only 84 people registering it as their first choice.

Witton Park Academy also saw a drop to 79 first choice applications, but is has 240 places up for grabs.

Simon Jones, spokesman for the NUT in the region, said: “The system in the area is chaotic and encourages too many people to apply for certain schools.

“It leaves others struggling to find enough applicants which puts pressure on members jobs.

“The council should have more power to set school admissions policy because at the moment families, students and teachers are losing out.”

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said that the increase in applications has been magnified because more have come from other areas including Hyndburn and Bolton.

Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School in Oswaldtwistle has again attracted fewer than 90 first-choice applications, while only 59 people have asked Norden High School in Rishton to be their preference.

While other Hyndburn schools, such as St Christopher’s CE High School have seen a record rise in applications, fears have been expressed that parents are increasingly ignoring Hyndburn and looking to Blackburn for their child’s education.

Cllr Miles Parkinson, the leader of Hyndburn Council, said: “It’s a concern that some of our schools are not being picked by parents but they are making an informed choice based on what they believe is best for their children.

“The problem is that if all parents choose the popular schools then some will not get their first choice.

“There would not be as much of a problem if the first-choice applications were spread out more evenly.”

Blackburn and Darwen headteachers have hailed the increase in interest in their schools and said that this year’s figures are a record.

Brendan Loughran, principal at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, which had an increase of 74 applications to 402, with 247 places available, said: “These figures show that the community has confidence in the hard work that is going on here.

“I’m aware that there has been an increase in the overall preferences and the first preferences for this year’s intake.

“It reflects the support the town has for the academy.”

A spokesman for St Wilfrid’s said: “Our Christian values are what drive the things we do here at the academy and that results in a warm and caring environment for students to be in.

“We want to help them excel in their studies, yes, but also in the way they act as human beings within society.

“We are moving in a very positive direction and people want to be a part of that.”

However some secondary schools did see a drop in overall applications such as St Augustine’s RC High School in Billington and Pleckgate High School in Blackburn.

Pleckgate headteacher Mark Cocker said: “It’s good that the overall number of first preference applications has remained at around the 80 mark.

“That means that we are now able to push on and build better relations with our nearby primary schools.”