More children rejected from first-choice primary school Last week, it emerged that another £600m in emergency funding was being made available by the Coalition to create more capacity in areas facing the biggest shortages. But with the primary school population set to surge by 800,000 within the next eight years, it is feared the investment will not be enough. Helen Jenner, chairman of the Pan London Admissions Board, which co-ordinates school allocations across the capital, said councils "cannot create places at schools which are already full and not all parents can be offered their first preference." "London local authorities are working hard to try to ensure that they can offer every child a school place but with this surge in demand it is becoming increasingly difficult," she said. On Wednesday, the Telegraph obtained data from almost 60 local authorities in England - more than a third of the total. Among councils that provided year-on-year figures, some 90 per cent reported an increase in applications in 2012 compared with 2011. In those areas, almost 14 per cent of four and five-year-olds failed to get into their first choice school. Nationally, this would result in around 85,500 out of 600,000 missing out. Last year, the figure was estimated to be around 12 per cent. London reported the biggest squeeze on places, with 21 per cent of applicants failing to secure their first choice this September and around one-in-10 missing out on at least three schools. In Kensington and Chelsea, more than a third of pupils failed to get into their first choice school, while 31 per cent missed out in Wandsworth. Across England, councils said they were providing extra places to cope with a surge in demand this September. In Durham, councillors said they were expanding schools to provide an extra 585 places, while Wiltshire Council said it was creating 450 places, including 60 in mobile classrooms. According to official forecasts, the number of under-11s in the education system will rise from 4m to 4.82m by 2020 - taking the primary school population to its highest level since the early 70s. Ged Cooney, executive member for children at Tameside Council, Greater Manchester, said: "The borough has experienced a surge in births over recent years which has led to difficulties with placing children in reception [classes] in various areas. Unless we take action, the situation is set to get even more acute over the next three years if births continue to rise.