School leaders have called for a national strategy to create enough school places across the country, on the day that families are being told which secondary school their children will attend.

Last year, 93,000 pupils - 16.5 per cent of the total - did not receive a place at their first-choice secondary school, representing a small rise on the 15.9 per cent who missed out in the previous year.

The nationwide figure masked wide geographical variations, with the proportion getting into their prefered school ranging from 98.2 per cent in Northumberland to 53.6 per cent in Hammersmith and Fulham.

Across the country, 94.6 per cent of pupils secured a place at one of their top three secondary schools.

It comes at a time that the number of secondary school pupils is rising.

Local councils are legally responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places, but cannot order academies to expand to help achieve this.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT headteachers’ union, said: “In an increasingly fragmented school system, we lack a coordinated approach to place planning. Instead, it’s haphazard; decisions are being made in isolation and new schools and new school places are not always being commissioned in the areas they are most needed.”

He said there was “a desperate need for long-term planning that spans all sectors”, and added: “Until some agency at the local or regional level has the information and the clout to prioritise school places where they are most needed, parents and children will always be unsure that the system will give them what they want.”

When approached by Tes, the DfE did not comment on the issue, and instead referred to a media statement in which school standards minister Nick Gibb said the government is investing £5.8 billion to create school places, following the creation of 735,000 places since 2010.

Last year, an analysis of DfE data showed that 80 out of 151 councils saw a drop in the proportion of pupils given their first choice of secondary school in 2016.

At the time, the Local Government Association said existing academies should be made to expand where needed, or councils should regain powers to open new maintained schools.