More than 30 families were unable to gain a place at a popular Chester high school during one of the most tense weeks of the year for primary school parents.

But more than 90% of applicants in the rest of the borough were granted their first choice on National Offer Day on Monday, according to Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC).

This week hundreds of thousands of families in England have been finding out whether they have been successful in applications for school places, having previously had no guarantee of securing a place at the school of their choice.

But while council figures appear encouraging, Bishops’ Blue Coat High School in Great Boughton say they were ‘disappointed’ to have been unable to offer places to more than 30 families who made the school their first choice for Year 7 in September.

Peter Coates, the school’s deputy headteacher, told The Chronicle: “The school feels disappointed for the families that have not got a place at Bishops’ this year.

“We believe that some of these families may eventually be allocated one of the small number of places which are declined by, for example, children who have secured places in independent schools or who are moving to another area. Some families have indicated that they will go to appeal.”

Mr Coates admitted the cohort of Year 6 students is larger this year than it was in 2014, which he said could be attributed to the fact that the school was recently placed in the top 90 of 3,000 national schools who have shown the greatest sustained improvement in their GCSE results.

He explained: “The school has also been congratulated on its work with disadvantaged students and narrowly missed receiving a Pupil Premium Award. This is coupled with an excellent set of results last summer which put the school in the top 17% of schools nationally in terms of value-added. This is likely the reason the demand is higher this year.

“We are pleased that our reputation and success continues to rise and we look forward to welcoming the 180 students who will join our new Year 7 from 41 primary schools in and around Cheshire and extending into North Wales and Halton,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tarporley High School have also been inundated with admissions, with a spokesperson telling The Chronicle: “As in previous years, we are aware we have received more applications than places available at this early stage of the admissions process.

“However, this is not the end of the process and we know historically not all parents will take up their place offered at Tarporley as they will choose to send their child to an independent school.

“We will remain in contact with the small number of parents who have applied for a place and are now on our waiting list and will allocate places as they become available. If parents have any questions about their application for a place at Tarporley they should contact the school.”

Chester’s Catholic High School have also experienced high demand, but still have places available.

Headteacher John Murray said: “We have been contacted by some parents who didn’t get their first choice of school, and we do have some places still open. Parents who are interested should contact the school as soon as possible.”

Figures from CWaC show that 92% of parents and carers were given their first school preference this year, and other schools including Christleton High School say their trends do not appear to be that different from last year.

Christleton headteacher Tony Lamberton said: “We don’t actually know specific numbers until later this month when the borough lets us have the full information but the trends in preference statistics do not appear to have changed too significantly since last year.

“This time of year is particularly difficult for those families who do not get allocated their first choice of school.

“Christleton High is a popular school and parents frequently have to appeal or relocate to secure a place. We feel uncomfortable about this, it seems unkind to turn away students but with 1,330 students in a school located in a small village there are limits to our capacity to serve children well.”

Mr Lamberton added: “The admissions process is well managed by the borough and after initial disappointment on March 2 once places are confirmed and accepted in mid-March there are often further movements providing opportunity for families to secure their school of choice.

“As head of Christleton, I believe we have many super schools in the area, and unlike many parts of the country, families have a real choice. My advice to parents who have a strong preference is to be determined and carefully follow the admissions code.”

A CWaC spokesman added: “There were 3,301 applications made on behalf of Cheshire West and Chester pupils for secondary school places across the borough and 3,049 parents and carers were given their first preference – that is 92%. Parental choice is a key element when looking at the figures.”