Thousands of children across Sussex will find out this week which secondary school they will join in September.

Letters will be sent out today to families with ten and eleven-year-olds preparing to move up from primary school.

They will arrive at most homes tomorrow but for the first time Brighton and Hove City Council will also be emailing parents who made their applications online, meaning some will discover their allocations today.

It will be the third year the council has operated its controversial system of allocating places using catchment areas with a lottery decider system.

In the past two years hundreds of families have complained at losing out because of the system and being sent to a school which was not their first choice. The problem has become particularly acute in the Brighton/Hove border area.

The council said the scheme was fairer for the city as a whole. It was designed to get more children going to local schools and to create an even mix of children from different backgrounds.

Councillor Vanessa Brown, cabinet member for children and young people, yesterday said she was not yet able to release figures but added: "I think most people will get on of their three school choices. I'm hoping there won't be many who are directed to one they have not chosen."

This year will also be the first to use a redrawn catchment for Patcham High School, in Ladies Mile Road, Brighton, which will include the Westdene area in the north of Brighton.

Patcham High had previously had difficulty filling its places because there were not enough children in its catchment, meaning it received less funding from Government. Only 158 of its 210 places were filled in 2008.

The council would not disclose any figures yesterday but it is believed all of Patcham High's spaces have been filled this year by children who have made it a preference, rather than those sent there because they had been unsuccessful elsewhere.

It is not yet known how applications to Portslade Community College, in Chalky Road, and Hove Park School, in Nevill Road, have been affected by their GCSE pass rates falling this year.

Last year Blatchington Mill School, in Nevill Avenue, was overwhelmingly the first choice for parents living in the catchment it shares with Hove Park.

There will also be interest in how popular Falmer High, in Lewes Road, has been ahead of its transformation into a new academy in September.

The Argus would like to know whether you got the school you wanted. Call 01273 544548 or email andy.chiles@theargus.co.uk