Nearly 300 families have failed to secure a place at a school of their choice for September, new figures reveal.

Instead they have been allocated places at less popular secondary schools with spare places.

Schools that still have space places for next term are Nab Wood, Wyke Manor and Bradford Cathedral Community College at East Bowling.

In the annual scramble for places at the district's 29 secondary schools, a high proportion - 86.9 per cent - got a place at their first-choice school. This represents the vast majority of the 6,851 pupils moving up from primary to secondary schools this summer.

A further 466 pupils (6.8 per cent) won a place at their second-choice school and 142 (2.1 per cent) got into their third-choice school.

But not everyone is happy and 280 families have gone to appeal this year.

The authority said a total of 291 pupils, or 4.2 per cent, failed to get a place at either their first, second or third-preference school and have been allocated a place at another one. This number has risen slightly since last year when 261 youngsters were allocated places at schools they did not want.

The numbers missing out on their first choice have risen this year but the task of matching pupils to places was harder as the year group had 500 more pupils than last year.

School chiefs went on the offensive last September in a bid to persuade parents of the virtues of their local school. Officials attended school open evenings to offer guidance on where places would be available. The aim was to stop parents making 'unrealistic' choices.

A spokesman for Education Bradford said: "Our efforts to provide better information for parents, including staff attending open events at schools, means parents are more aware of what the catchment areas are and are more informed about the choices they can make."

Next year will be the last year of the current admissions system. Radical changes will come into effect the following year.

Pupils transferring to high schools in September 2005 will be allocated places under a new system: each secondary school will have a newly-drawn catchment or 'priority area' which will over-ride the sibling rule.