A third of Birmingham ten-year-olds have missed out on their first choice secondary school, according to council figures.
The anxious parents of almost 14,000 city children have received letters, emails and even text messages to find out if they had secured the desired school place.
But around 4,700 pupils will not be going to their preferred school, although most will get a place at one their alternative choices. That leaves 762, or 5.4 per cent, not offered any one of their preferred schools.
There were also 1,870 applicants to Birmingham schools from outside the city, with only 21.3 per cent offered their first choice.
It was the first year that parents could be informed by text, with more than 100 opting to do so, while others will be informed by more conventional letter, email or telephone call.
In a pilot run by Digital Birmingham and GES Connect Digitally, around 70 Birmingham parents were informed by text message.
According to official statistics there were a total of 13,986 applications from Birmingham children, up 34 on last year.
9,300 (66.5 per cent) were offered their first preferred school, second choice offers went to 1,715 (12.3 per cent) pupils, third preferences to 917 (6.6 per cent) , 587 (4.2 per cent) fourth choices, 412 (2.9 per cent) offered fifth preference and 293 (2.1 per cent) the sixth preferred school.
A total of 1,383 were offered schools outside Birmingham.
In previous years about 1,000 appeals have been made and 3.6 per cent have been successful.
