Almost three-quarters of students heading to secondary school in Islington will go to one of their top three choices – but an e-mail blunder has left some parents in the dark.

In Islington, 73 per cent of children will go to their preferred secondary school – more than four per cent above the London average – and 92 per cent have received places at one of their top three choices.

The London Grid for Learning was tasked with delivering the news for the capital’s councils yesterday. But an error has left 27,000 of the 90,000 parents in London none the wiser.

An apologetic statement on the London Grid for Learning website said: “Parents can find out their child’s secondary school offer straight away by logging on to the eAdmissions website.

“In addition, parents will have also received a text alert regarding their offer if they signed up for this service.

“Unfortunately, some e-mail providers do not always allow e-mail notifications about secondary school offers to be delivered straight away, due to their security and technical policies which don’t actually block the delivery of the e-mail but send them out in stages.

“We have informed parents of this development in advance by placing a message on the London eAdmissions website and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

Cllr Joe Caluori, the council’s executive member for children and young people, said the council was “pleased” by the figures.

“Our schools are popular and highly-valued,” he said. “Applications have gone up and we are extremely proud to say every secondary school student attends a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ school, as judged by Ofsted – making our provision among the best in the country.

“We are also making plans for the future, managing increasing demand for our schools by creating more than 100 extra places by 2018.”