Report

The hardest schools in England to get into

Not a catchment map — nobody publishes those. This is what actually happened in the last admissions round: how many families put each school first, and how many of them were offered a place.

Schools in the admissions round: 14,573
Oversubscribed on first choices: 6,232
Comfortably undersubscribed: 754

Secondary schools with the most first choices per place

School	Area	Places	First choices	Per place	Offered
The Royal School, Wolverhampton	Wolverhampton	30	171	5.70	12%
Seven Kings SchoolIlford	Redbridge	53	259	4.89	16%
Eden Girls' Leadership Academy, Birmingham	Birmingham	123	432	3.51	28%
Woodmansterne SchoolLondon	Lambeth	24	82	3.42	26%
Dartford Grammar SchoolDartford	Kent	179	569	3.18	26%
Ark Greenwich Free SchoolLondon	Greenwich	115	357	3.10	27%
Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Birmingham East	Birmingham	122	362	2.97	32%
The King's (The Cathedral) School	Peterborough	127	366	2.88	34%
Reach Academy Hanworth ParkFeltham	Hounslow	84	242	2.88	27%
Landau Forte College	Derby	180	517	2.87	31%
King Edward VI Grammar School, ChelmsfordChelmsford	Essex	149	412	2.77	35%
Kendrick School	Reading	127	351	2.76	34%
Reading School	Reading	146	400	2.74	35%
Dixons Trinity Chapeltown	Leeds	44	119	2.70	35%
Wootton Park SchoolNorthampton	West Northamptonshire	112	301	2.69	33%
Brampton Manor AcademyLondon	Newham	434	1,161	2.68	37%
The Blue Coat CofE School	Oldham	232	611	2.63	37%
Lady Margaret SchoolLondon	Hammersmith and Fulham	118	310	2.63	36%
Northampton School for BoysNorthampton	West Northamptonshire	218	571	2.62	36%
Michaela Community SchoolLondon	Brent	112	286	2.55	31%
St Mary Magdalene AcademyLondon	Islington	171	434	2.54	37%
King Edward VI SchoolStratford-upon-Avon	Warwickshire	87	221	2.54	38%
XP School	Doncaster	50	125	2.50	31%
Hockerill Anglo-European CollegeBishop's Stortford	Hertfordshire	61	152	2.49	40%
Tiffin School	Kingston upon Thames	195	479	2.46	39%

Primary schools with the most first choices per place

School	Area	Places	First choices	Per place	Offered
Al-Noor Voluntary Aided Muslim Primary SchoolIlford	Redbridge	60	201	3.35	30%
Tudor Grange Primary Academy, St James	Solihull	29	79	2.72	37%
Pyrcroft Grange Primary SchoolChertsey	Surrey	30	81	2.70	36%
Oak Cottage Primary School	Solihull	30	77	2.57	39%
Meridian Primary SchoolLondon	Greenwich	28	71	2.54	39%
Barons Court Primary School and NurseryWestcliff-on-Sea	Southend-on-Sea	35	89	2.54	39%
The Olive School, Birmingham	Birmingham	90	224	2.49	40%
Merton Park Primary SchoolLondon	Merton	30	74	2.47	39%
Caldershaw Primary School	Rochdale	30	74	2.47	40%
Moorgate Primary School	Bolton	26	64	2.46	41%
Lord Deramore's Primary School	York	27	66	2.44	36%
Carlton Junior and Infant SchoolDewsbury	Kirklees	30	73	2.43	40%
Fox Primary SchoolLondon	Kensington and Chelsea	58	140	2.41	39%
Livingstone Primary and Nursery School	Barnet	28	67	2.39	42%
John Betts Primary SchoolLondon	Hammersmith and Fulham	29	69	2.38	39%
Thomas Jones Primary SchoolLondon	Kensington and Chelsea	29	69	2.38	42%
Overstone Gate Primary SchoolNorthampton	West Northamptonshire	28	66	2.36	41%
Avanti House Primary SchoolStanmore	Harrow	58	135	2.33	41%
Lowbrook AcademyMaidenhead	Windsor and Maidenhead	30	69	2.30	44%
The Olive School, Small Heath	Birmingham	60	138	2.30	42%
The Olive School, PrestonPreston	Lancashire	60	135	2.25	44%
Leigh Academy Cherry OrchardEbbsfleet	Kent	59	132	2.24	44%
Hampstead Parochial Church of England Primary SchoolLondon	Camden	30	66	2.20	41%
Runnymede St Edward's Catholic Primary School	Liverpool	59	128	2.17	46%
Jerry Clay Academy	Wakefield	27	58	2.15	47%

Getting harder fastest

School	Area	Places	First choices	Per place	Offered
St Mary's Bryanston Square CofE SchoolLondon	Westminster	30	37	1.23	62%
Brook Mead Academy	Leicester	245	301	1.23	76%
Jessop Primary SchoolLondon	Lambeth	30	62	2.07	44%
Co-op Academy Belle Vue	Manchester	222	364	1.64	54%
Woodford Green Primary SchoolWoodford Green	Waltham Forest	30	52	1.73	54%
Lord Deramore's Primary School	York	27	66	2.44	36%
Hotham Primary SchoolLondon	Wandsworth	59	97	1.64	55%
Chetwynde SchoolBarrow-in-Furness	Westmorland and Furness	30	64	2.13	47%
Ark Greenwich Free SchoolLondon	Greenwich	115	357	3.10	27%
Harris Primary Academy Beckenham GreenBeckenham	Bromley	30	54	1.80	44%
Southfield Primary SchoolLondon	Ealing	60	116	1.93	47%
Holbrook Church of England Primary SchoolBelper	Derbyshire	20	43	2.15	46%
St George's SchoolHarpenden	Hertfordshire	170	235	1.38	67%
The Russell SchoolRickmansworth	Hertfordshire	29	48	1.66	60%
La Fontaine Academy	Bromley	90	135	1.50	65%

These figures are offers made on national offer day. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions, so a school listed here as heavily oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription is a measure of demand, not of quality. A school can be heavily oversubscribed because it is genuinely excellent, because of its faith designation, because it selects by ability, or simply because the next nearest school is a long way away. It is worth knowing the odds before you rank your preferences; it is not a ranking of schools.

Computed from the same data the rest of this site serves — the DfE performance tables, the school census, Ofsted inspection outcomes, the Indices of Deprivation 2019, HM Land Registry price paid data and Census 2021. How each figure is calculated.