One in three London children has failed to win a place at their first choice of secondary school.

Figures released on Tuesday showed that about 25,000 pupils of the 78,180 who applied to start secondary school in September will have to settle for a lesser choice.

However, 94 per cent will still go to one of their top six choices and 87 per cent to one of their top three.

Wandsworth issued the least first-choice places (53.3 per cent), followed by Southwark (54.9 per cent) and Lambeth (55.5 per cent).

Croydon (56.5 per cent), Kingston 57.3 (per cent) and Merton (58.17 per cent) were also among the worst boroughs for first choices.

Kerry Salter from Sutton said she was filled with "so much upset and anger" after her son Jake Clarke-Salter, 11, failed to get any offer of a school place.

"We had three preferences. He hasn't even got those or an offer of ANY other school within borough as there are no places. He has to go on waiting lists," she wrote.

Like thousands of parents, she submitted her son's application in October and has been waiting for an offer of a secondary school place ever since.

Since 2005, school places in London have been awarded under the Pan-London Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme (PLCAS).

This enables parents to fill in one form, even if they apply for school places in more than one borough.

But a study by the London School of Economics, done when PLCAS was first brought in, found the system was still too complex.

Nevertheless Graham Carter, the head of London’s cross-council admissions board, insisted the scheme was a success.

“For the fifth year running, London’s admissions system has been able to place more than ninety per cent of pupils at a school of their choice and two thirds have been offered a place at their first choice school,” he said.

A spokesman for the London Councils said judging the system solely on first-choice offers was inaccurate.

The amount of children awarded a place at on of their top three school choices is a better indication, he said.

Some parents list a school their child is unlikely to get into as their first preference because “they have nothing to loose”.

He added: “While some boroughs might not be offering as many first preferences to their residents as other authorities do, they may well be meeting a high proportion of first preferences for pupils from neighbouring boroughs.”

Borough % 1st choice % 2nd choice % 3rd choice % 4th choice % 5th choice % 6th choice Croydon 56.52% 16.01% 8.42% 4.52% 2.39% 1.23% Hammersmith & Fulham 61.82% 14.53% 5.85% 4.16% 1.86% 1.15% Hounslow 69.76% 13.40% 5.68% 2.80% 2.12% 0.84% Kingston upon Thames 57.33% 18.12% 11.38% 4.50% 1.99% 1.41% Lambeth 55.49% 17.34% 9.26% 4.59% 2.79% 6.60% Merton 58.17% 13.90% 7.53% 4.52% 3.24% 2.43% Richmond upon Thames 62.19% 15.63% 6.16% 1.99% 0.86% 13.18% Sutton 63.11% 13.50% 8.94% 4.51% 2.23% 0.96% Wandsworth 53.28% 20.78% 11.12% 4.83% 2.50% 0.92% London average 66.05% 14.27% 6.68% 3.29% 1.74% 1.76%