FAMILIES in Hillingdon are celebrating after school admissions results were announced.

For the second year running, 93 per cent of children who applied for a place in Hillingdon have been offered one of their top three schools.

This year, Hillingdon received an all-time high of 3,054 applications for secondary school places.

Despite this increase in demand, the borough is six per cent above the London average for offering a school place to families within their top three choices.

The latest figures also show that 74 per cent of children who applied for a secondary school place in the borough have been offered their first choice, compared to 68 per cent across London as a whole.

Hillingdon also compared favourably amongst neighbouring boroughs Ealing, Harrow and Hounslow, who offered top three choices to 85 per cent, 90 per cent and 88 per cent of children respectively.

Hillingdon is also ahead of the game on first-choice offers, with 68 per cent of families receiving their top school in Harrow, 67 per cent in Hounslow and 66 per cent in Ealing.

Jean Palmer, deputy chief executive, said: "Hillingdon has seen a steady increase in applications for secondary school places over the last few years, so we are pleased to see we are still able to offer the majority of pupils their first choice."