Labour councillors are calling for an urgent review of secondary school admission arrangements and pupil projections after more than 350 children were not allocated any of their preferred schools.

Group leader Councillor Ian Greenwood is asking Bradford Council to take action after the allocation results for September were revealed.

The figures showed that more than one in five children missed out on a place at their first-choice secondary.

A total of 6,750 are due to transfer to secondary school in the district later this year and 95 per cent were allocated one of their preferences with 78.5 per cent gaining their number one choice.

The five per cent, or 366 children, who missed out on their preferences were allocated another school.

Coun Greenwood said he was concerned that hundreds of families were in distress as a result of this crisis. He said: “The lack of places in the right schools is made worse by the decision to allocate children to the few schools with remaining capacity without speaking to parents or to local members.

“This has led to some totally inappropriate allocations that have significant long-term implications not only for the families involved but also for their communities and the schools they’ve been allocated to.

“The school appeals system is already buckling under the pressure of high numbers and the failure to plan effectively will make it much worse.

“Urgent steps need to be taken to get children into appropriate schools and to make sure that plans are in place to avoid a repeat fiasco next year.”

The motion to a meeting of the full Council at 4pm in City Hall next Tuesday calls on the executive to ensure no parents are left facing “wholly inappropriate placements” and for the authority to take control of admissions before the contract with Education Bradford expires.

It will be seconded by the Labour group’s education spokesman Councillor Ralph Berry.

He said: “I understand that a significant number of other children have yet to secure any school place at all. There are around 8,000 pupil movements each year but no proper processes to identify where they are happening or to line up support to schools.

“Step one has to be to bring admissions and places planning under one roof within the Council as soon as possible. We can’t wait for the contract with Education Bradford to expire to do it.

“Step two is to achieve a better understanding of pupil movements and improve the ability to project places and demand.”

Councillor David Ward, the Liberal Democrat group’s education spokesman, said he believed the figures needed closer analysis first. He said: “We want to look at the figures very closely to be sure that preferences that were given were realistic in the first place. We need to be a bit more sophisticated in analysing the figure of 350 children who weren’t given any of their preferred schools.

“At Carlton Bolling for example, there are only three who have been allocated the school against their preference. But all three live in Undercliffe Lane, so it is their nearest school anyway.”