More pupils in the county than ever before have won a place at of one their three preferred secondary schools, according to the county council.

Anxious parents and carers received confirmation of school places either by letter or email on Thursday and Friday.

And the county council says this process went without a hitch.

This year 11,834 children in the county have been allocated one of their ranked schools, bringing the success rate up to 94.3 per cent - up half a per cent on last year.

About 80 per cent of Hertfordshire children got their first ranked school.

A total of 12,549 applications for county children were received by Hertfordshire County Council's admissions team and a record 68 per cent of parents and carers applied online.

David Lloyd, executive member for Education, said: "Moving on to secondary school is a very important step for children and we work extremely hard to ensure that as many youngsters as possible get a place at one of their ranked schools.

"We all want the best possible education for children in Hertfordshire. The county has excellent schools and we work in partnership to continue to raise standards and make the allocation process as smooth as possible."

If parents don't get a place at one of their preferred schools they can ask to be included on the school's continuing interest list and they can find further information from the 'What Can You Do Now' leaflet ; from the website www.hertsdirect.org/admissions or call on 01438 737500 or 01923 471500 for people ringing from 01923 or 0208 dialling codes.

The closing date for appeals is 4pm on March 30, 2007.

Did you go through this year's secondary place allocation? If so how did you find the process? Fill out the form below and let us know.