Parents and guardians have just days left to apply for a secondary school place for their children in Staffordshire.

Admission applications to secondary schools close on October 31, leaving parents time to make the crucial decision on which secondary school their child will attend in September 2018.

Last year, 92 per cent of parents were allocated their first choice secondary school, with 98 per cent granted one of their top 3 choices.

With an increased demand for secondary school places in some areas of the county, Staffordshire County Council's admissions team has produced a range of top tips for applicants.

These include:

  • Make more than one preference.

  • Be realistic about the schools being applied for, and always include your catchment area school where you have one. To find that, visit www.staffordshire.gov.uk/admission.

  • Understand the admissions arrangements for each of your preferred schools. This will enable you to assess what order of priority will be given for each school. You will find this information at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/admissions.

  • All applications are considered at the same time, meaning it is important that all applications are in by October 31

70 per cent of eligible parents have applied so far, meaning 30 per cent still need to get their applications into the county council before the closing date.

County Councillor Philip White, Cabinet Support Member for Learning and Employability said: "Over the past few years we have experienced increased demand for school places, which we have met through a comprehensive programme of expanding existing schools and building new ones such as the £30 million John Taylor Free School opening in Burton next September.

"This investment means we managed to allocate a top three preferred school to 98 per cent of parents last year, and we will continue to plan for more school places in the future.

"Although we have the school places, if we don't know which school you want your child to attend you may not get the place you want. For this reason, I would urge the 30 per cent of parents who haven't applied for a place yet to do so through Staffordshire County Council's website before the closing date, to give them the best chance of being allocated one of their top three schools."

For more information, visit www.staffordshire.gov.uk/admissions.