School applicants offered their first-preference school, England
Official statistics
The share of applicants in England offered their first-preference school on national offer day, for a reception place at a state-funded primary school and for the main entry point to state-funded secondary school, each year since 2014/15, from the Department for Education's school applications and offers statistics.
Secondary, England
83.60%
2026/27
Latest check failed – showing figures verified against source 8 November 2026, 13:20 UTC- Secondary school (main entry point)
- Primary school (reception)
Source: Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence.
Data table
13 periods, newest first
| Period | Secondary school (main entry point) | Primary school (reception) |
|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 83.60% | 92.42% |
| 2025/26 | 83.52% | 92.56% |
| 2024/25 | 82.92% | 93.16% |
| 2023/24 | 82.58% | 92.50% |
| 2022/23 | 83.25% | 92.20% |
| 2021/22 | 81.12% | 91.78% |
| 2020/21 | 82.17% | 90.22% |
| 2019/20 | 80.88% | 90.62% |
| 2018/19 | 82.10% | 90.98% |
| 2017/18 | 83.48% | 90.02% |
| 2016/17 | 84.09% | 88.35% |
| 2015/16 | 84.25% | 87.75% |
| 2014/15 | 85.20% | 87.65% |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Department for Education
- Check it yourself
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers
- Licence
- Open Government Licence – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence.
- Retrieved
- 8 November 2026, 13:09 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers/2026-27SHA-256 db81a526a15b916152c05447ff632d5813396c8c3dfe308f05a93a22a625ddd8 · 601 bytes
- https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/data-set-files?publicationId=66c8e9db-8bf2-4b0b-b094-cfab25c20b05&latestOnly=true&pageSize=40SHA-256 fce44fe894fc2829c9fcf93ecae2adef6c0d032854a5a480bfc0869a6d5cbdf7 · 3,699 bytes
- https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/data-set-files/8747703f-e125-4d14-a996-7b901e41257cSHA-256 e456fa1ae44abac8902d62d03920d8d1344404b44d7bee8874e01d4479280bc7 · 6,752 bytes
- https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0bf4f9cf-721d-44e3-8473-266c87e17e00/files?fileIds=a7f90bc0-3546-440c-f79e-08deb4e064b9SHA-256 44845e742ded037c0210a6d6f5f39b581de6c6c55ffb5c373b103e9160b48a9a · 411,513 bytes
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offersSHA-256 207fd39cb25097930be193bec37804e8793fc5133eb498dea6e9488536f7e5fb · 28,139 bytes
- https://www.gov.uk/api/search.json?filter_format=statistics_announcement&filter_organisations=department-for-education&count=1500&fields=title,release_timestamp,statistics_announcement_state,link,display_type,public_timestampSHA-256 c19f6fda377c65fca3c4f0c6a83e37992cf5759792c1eeffcc0fdfff1d5b37ac · 110,765 bytes
- receipts.json, made by the hub and not fetched: its receipt for each file it fetchedSHA-256 e42c915271ad1e2485d055a888be09287e3cd25270af428fb07afbfc75482c4f · 3,253 bytes
Verification
Latest check failed – showing figures verified against source 8 November 2026, 13:20 UTC Run at 10 November 2026, 11:33 UTC; the latest check failed, so these are the figures that matched the source in full at 8 November 2026, 13:20 UTC; they stand for up to 14 days while the failure is put right.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Department for Education; Open Government Licence; retrieved 2026-11-08T13:09:00Z; 7 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 7 of 7 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 26 of 26 figures and the headline reproduced; the meta's observations and release and pinned and contract_sha256 and register_rows_sha256 and main match |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 26 figures, 0 invalid |
| Fail | Live source matches every figure | re-read failed: Stop: held at freshness: the next release is now 'provisional' on '2027-06-30T23:59:59.000+01:00' |
| Not run | Second official route | No independent second route to these figures is published; the live re-fetch is the check. |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- The headline figures are the number and proportion of children receiving their first preference or a preferred offer.
- The data collected is the position as at the respective national offer day. The final numbers of pupils starting in specific schools is likely to be different due to late applicants, refusal of offers, subsequent offers made via a second offer round or the schools’ waiting lists, or successful appeals.
- The inclusion of a school by an applicant as one of their preferences does not mean that they meet the admissions criteria for that school.
- The local authority receives, and reports on, applications for a school place from parents/guardians who are living within their local authority. However, the applications are in all cases reported within these tables by the local authority to whom the application is made (that is, the one in which the child is resident).
- At secondary level the application is for the main entry point into secondary school in that local authority. For local authorities with more than one entry point, the intake with the largest number of places available is the one reported. Places at schools such as UTCs and Studio Schools whose intake is in year 10 (at age 14), and other schools who do not offer places via the co-ordinated admissions process, are not included in these figures.
- England's secondary figures include Central Bedfordshire's main entry point: “Until 2025 this was year 7 for all local authorities except Central Bedfordshire, whose largest entry point was in year 9. In 2026 Central Bedfordshire's largest entry point became year 7 and so from that year all the data submitted is for year 7 entry.” (the DfE's methodology).
- The preference rates are calculated as a proportion of all applicants who expressed one or more preference.
- The local authorities are asked not to provide data on school places offered to children with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan since the parents of these children were not required to apply for their school place.
- Each year is the DfE's figure for England in its latest file, which gives every year from 2014/15.
- “Primary and secondary suppression was applied in the 2014 dataset. No suppression has been applied from 2015 onwards.” (the release's data guidance) England's counts for 2014/15 are given whole and its regions' in tens; that year its regions' counts do not add to England's, nor do England's preferred, other and no offers add to its applications.
- The Department for Education publishes these as official statistics. Its data is released under the Open Government Licence, as its data guidance says; it names no version.