Cobham Free School received 158 applications for 24 reception places and praised free schools for giving parents more choices and filling a need for good primary schools.

Parents found out about their applications on Thursday, April 16, for the September 2015 intake.

Executive headteacher Michaela Khatib said: "Once again, Cobham Free School has proved exceptionally popular with the community.

"The strong competition for spaces shows that we are offering a model of education which parents really want, with small class sizes and a focus on specialist teaching."

Cobham Free School is one of more than 400 free schools, which are either open or approved to open, representing in total more than 230,000 new school places.

The school opened its primary department in September 2012 as part of wave two of the Government’s programme and aims to expand to two-form entry in September 2016.