Primary school places: 18 areas of England outside London where it is hardest to get your first choice school

Parents in England face a postcode lottery getting children into their preferred primary schools, as official figures show wide geographical variations in applicant success rates.

Department for Education figures show more than 42,000 primary school applicants in England did not get offered a place at their first choice school for September 2023.

Across the country, 92.5% of all primary school applicants were made an offer of their first preference school this year – a slight increase on 2022’s figures when 92.2% were accepted into their first choice primary.

Parents or guardians can put between three and six preferences down for a state school of choice, depending on the local authority. Admission criteria is generally set by the school or the local council – for example priority would be given to children living close to the school or from a particular faith.

In total nearly 600,000 applications were received for a place at primary school, a 1.3% decrease on 2022’s figures, likely due to a drop in births.

The figures also show how parents in London struggle the most to get their children into their first choice school. Of the 20 council areas with the lowest rates of parents getting their first choice primary, 18 were in the capital.

The lowest rates in England were in the London boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea (70.4%), Camden (81.3%), Hammersmith and Fulham (82.2%), Wandsworth (83%) and Islington (83.6%). These were followed by Hounslow, Merton, Lewisham and Barnet which all had a rate of 85.4%. The only non-London local authority in the bottom ten was Windsor and Maidenhead which had a rate of 85%.

In comparison, Hartlepool was found to have the highest first preference rate in England with 99.3%, followed by Redcar and Cleveland with 98.4% and Rutland, also with 98.4%.

Here we reveal the local authorities outside London which had the lowest first preference success rates in England. 

The figures are based on the proportion of applications received, not admission numbers.

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