School admissions in England, the 2026 intake
How the 2026 round turned out: who applied, and who was offered the school they asked for.
Figures on this page cover every school and council for the 2026 intake. The home page chart covers only schools with a figure in every year, so its totals are lower.
Reception, September 2026
540,244 families named a primary school as their first choice for September 2026.
That is 16% fewer than in 2016, the highest year we hold, when it was 641,271.
Against 2023, three years earlier, it is 5% lower.
First choices fell between 2016 and 2026 in every one of the 145 councils we hold both years for, and rose in none.
92.4% of families were offered their first choice, and 98.4% were offered one of the three schools they named.
22.0% of primary schools received more first choices than they had offers to make, against 33.6% in 2014.
| Families naming a primary school first | 540,244 |
| Offered their first choice | 92.4% |
| Offered one of the three schools they named | 98.4% |
| Schools that received more first choices than they had offers to make | 22.0% |
| Schools counted | 15,871 |
Year 7, September 2026
587,596 families named a secondary school as their first choice for September 2026.
That is 5% fewer than in 2023, the highest year we hold, when it was 617,067.
First choices fell between 2016 and 2026 in 37 of the 141 councils we hold both years for, and rose in 104.
83.6% of families were offered their first choice, and 95.0% were offered one of the three schools they named.
37.9% of secondary schools received more first choices than they had offers to make, against 33.6% in 2014.
| Families naming a secondary school first | 587,596 |
| Offered their first choice | 83.6% |
| Offered one of the three schools they named | 95.0% |
| Schools that received more first choices than they had offers to make | 37.9% |
| Schools counted | 3,226 |
What happened to families who were refused
In 2026, families in England lodged 47,115 appeals against a school place decision. 34,711 were heard by a panel and 6,414 succeeded.
The other 12,404 did not reach a panel. Most appeals that do not are withdrawn because a place comes up first, so a share worked out over every appeal lodged would understate what panels actually decided.
Success depends a great deal on the year group. 19.5% of secondary appeals heard that year succeeded, against 8.1% of appeals about an infant class. An infant class is capped at 30 children by law, so a panel can only agree where the place was refused by mistake, where the admission rules were not applied properly, or where the decision was one no reasonable council would have made.
This is a record of decisions already made. A panel hears one case at a time and decides it on what that family sets out, so these figures do not indicate what would happen in any particular appeal.
| Year group | Appeals heard | Succeeded | Share of those heard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 7,627 | 1,146 | 15.0% |
| Primary (infant classes) | 4,757 | 387 | 8.1% |
| Secondary | 27,084 | 5,268 | 19.5% |
| Total | 34,711 | 6,414 | 18.5% |
Infant classes are counted inside the primary row as well as on their own, so these rows do not add up and are not meant to. Primary plus secondary is the total.
Source: Department for Education, admission appeals in England, published each August. Covers 153 councils. A share that succeeded is always taken over appeals heard by a panel, never over appeals lodged.
What this does not tell you
It describes demand. It does not indicate whether any particular child would be offered a place.
These are national figures. A council where first choices fell still contains schools that turned children away, and a council where they rose still contains schools with places left over. For one school, read its own page.
Other intake years
Source: Department for Education, Primary and secondary school applications and offers. Published each June for the September that follows. Figures for a given intake do not change once published. This page as Markdown. What we hold.