Parents and carers will find out tonight if their child has got a place at the primary school of their choice.

Allocation emails will be sent after 6pm tonight to all parents who have confirmed their email address.

The online allocation system will be available for other online applicants only after all emails have been dispatched.

Hertfordshire County Council’s admissions team has processed in excess of 18,300 applications and more than 17,700 Hertfordshire families will be informed of their offer of a school place today or tomorrow.

The number of children applying for a place in a Hertfordshire primary school has risen by 595 this year - a total of 15,454 applications for reception places were received.

Despite this significant increase, 14,042 Hertfordshire children have been allocated a ranked primary school.

Similarly, more children were allocated their first ranked school compared to last year - 12,170 in total - an increase of over 350 since last year.

The county council has already spent more than £100 million to provide an additional 2,000 reception places and a further £20 million has already been committed to provide a further 250 permanent places for September 2015.

However, the council said more places are needed because in some areas where the number of applications is even higher than anticipated.

Parents who applied online must also accept the school place offered online. The deadline to submit an appeal is 4pm on 22 May, 2014. Information concerning post allocation processes, including school summary reports, is available at www.hertsdirect.org/primaryoptions.