MORE than 100 children in the Basingstoke area have missed out on their first choice of secondary school.

Figures obtained from Hampshire County Council show that 77 parents who applied for schools in the Basingstoke and Deane area, and 31 parents who applied for Robert May's School, in West Street, Odiham, were disappointed.

Four schools in the Basingstoke borough were oversubscribed - Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School, in St Michael's Road, Brighton Hill Community College, in Brighton Way, Fort Hill Community School, in Kenilworth Road, and Testbourne Community School, in Micheldever Road, Whitchurch.

The results come after a shake-up of the admissions process for secondary schools.

Under the new "equal preference" system, parents can express a first, second and third choice for their children.

Children living within the catchment area for a school will get priority, followed by those who attended link schools and those with siblings at the school.

Brighton Hill Community College proved to be the most popular in The Gazette area, receiving 289 first preference applications for only 255 places.

Robert May's School received 269 first preference applications for 238 places, Testbourne Community School received 177 applications for 156 places, and Fort Hill Community School received 152 applications for 141 places.

Eleven children did not get into their first choice at Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School.

Headteacher Anthony Corish said the Roman Catholic school checks addresses to make sure parents live in the catchment area.

He said: "If you are baptised Catholic, went to a linked school and are local, then you will get your first preference.

"The problem arises where there are people who want a church education and are not baptised Catholic - they are the people who will be disappointed."

But, despite the vast majority of children in The Gazette area getting their first choice, Councillor Stephen Reid, Conservative member for Basingstoke North West, said the figures were not good enough.

Cllr Reid, who has been outspoken about the local education system, said: "I think it's something to be really concerned about because we could publish the statistics to say the vast majority of children were accommodated but, for the 77 sets of parents it is, in each case, a 100 per cent failure.

"That is 77 causes of regret for this county councillor."

He added: "What it also means is that the people who will not get into their first choice are concerned about the performance of their local school."

In Hampshire, 13,085 children received an offer from their first choice of school, out of a total of 14,367 children.

However, a further 976 children received a place at their second or third preferences, meaning that 98 per cent of children in Hampshire got a place at one of their three preferred schools.

Councillor David Kirk, Hampshire County Council's executive lead member for education, said: "As far as I am concerned, it is a roaring success to get to the point where 98 per cent of children get one of their preferences met."

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller said: "I am not sure you are able to get everyone into the position where there's no disappointment at all.

"But I know that in Basingstoke, many areas do experience acute problems of children not being able to get in to their school of first choice.

"Everybody wants to get a good local school to send their children to. We really need to allow schools that can expand to be able to do so."