Parents across Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead are breathing a sigh of relief after most succeeded in getting their children into the primary school of their choice.

In Slough 96 per cent of children are due to attend one of the preferred schools picked by their parents - with 84 per cent getting their first choice.

In the Royal Borough covering Windsor and Maidenhead more than 85 per cent of pupils applying to start primary, first, infant and junior schools have been given their first choice and 97 per cent have been offered one of their preferences for September 2017.

Councillor Sabia Hussain, commissioner for education and children’s services at Slough, said she was delighted.

She said: “The council is continuing to respond to unprecedented demand for primary school places, investing over £22 million in primary school expansion projects, which will create 840 additional primary school places across the borough.”

This year Slough received 2,402 applications for primary school places compared to 2,397 in 2016.

On the Royal Borough Cllr Natasha Airey, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We are pleased that such a high number of pupils have been offered a place of their choice, and so many at their school of first choice. We set ourselves a target of 85 per cent and just beat that.

“A number of our schools were oversubscribed, in particular Lowbrook Academy, and we continue to work with Lowbrook to increase the number of places to 60 per year so that more of our children can benefit from the excellent education provided by the school.”

Overall there were 126 fewer applications for September 2017 than last year.