The lottery school admissions system has been branded a "soaring success" by its creators.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the electronic ballot, coupled with a network of new catchment areas, had achieved its targets of getting more pupils into a local school, stopping people moving closer to popular secondaries and giving parents better knowledge of where their children are likely to be placed.

Thousands of parents across Brighton and Hove will be receiving notification of which school their children have been allocated through the post today.

The council said every child living in the catchment areas for Patcham High, Longhill High, Falmer High and Portslade Community College who had specified a preference for the schools had been allocated a place at them, unless they had been lucky enough to achieve a place at another school they had put down as a higher preference.

The council said that in the two dual catchments, pairing Dorothy Stringer School with Varndean School and Blatchington Mill School with Hove Park School, all children had been given a place at one or other of them, except for a small proportion who only listed one of the two schools as preferences.

It is understood some children living outside the catchment have managed to gain a place at Varndean.

Councillor Vanessa Brown, chairwoman of the city's Children and Young People's Trust, said: "This is a clear improvement given that we do not have enough places to meet demand at our most popular schools."

Gil Sweetenham, assistant director of children's services at the council, said the system was a soaring success which had fulfilled the objectives which led to its creation.

Despite the council's positive response the number of pupils getting places at the school their parents listed as their first choice fell from 1,871 last year to 1,843, a drop from 83.7 per cent to 78.2 per cent.

The number gaining a place at any of the three priority schools on their parents' application rose from 2,087 to 2,272, a jump from 93.3 per cent last year to a record high of 96.5 per cent.

Coun Brown said: "The new system is fairer to those families who never stood a chance of getting into their nearest school because of where they lived.

"We are delighted more families will be able to access a school that they have named as a preference."

The council said the greatest success had been reducing the number of pupils "directed" to school, those who were not allocated any of their three preferences, from 150 last year to 83.

It said that the majority of these cases were parents who had not listed one of their catchment schools on their application.

The number of children being placed at their second or third listed school rose significantly. Second preferences were allocated to 324 pupils by comparison to 193 last year. Third place allocation increased from 23 in 2007 to 105 this year.

More statistics will follow shortly.

Have you had your school admissions result today? Call The Argus on 01273 544548 or email andy.chiles@theargus.co.uk