The New Schools Network has published one of the largest polls on how parents view their local school.

It explores what parents value in a good school and asking how their own school measures up.

The results showed that more than a one in four of parents in the South West think the standard of schools in their local area is average or worse and more than half believe the number of places available is not good.

The survey shows that there is significant dissatisfaction among parents with 18 per cent in the South West who would have chosen a different school if they had had a chance.

When free schools were described to respondents in the south west, 81 per cent of those expressing a view said they would welcome the chance to have a free school in their area and 71 per cent would consider sending their child to a free school if one opened locally.

Natalie Evans, director of the New Schools Network, said: “We know that there is an acute shortage of places in many parts of the country, but this survey confirms that there is also a considerable shortage of good school places.

“With close to 100,000 families in the South West not able to send their child to their school of first choice, we cannot afford to ignore the case for new schools – both in areas where there is a shortfall of places and in areas where what is on offer falls short.”