# The Downs School

URN 151957, Secondary, Academy converter, West Berkshire.

Manor Crescent, Newbury, RG20 6AD.

This school became an academy on 1 April 2026. Before that it was a foundation school, under its earlier school number, URN 110102.

This page states what happened. It publishes no score, no ranking and no prediction, and nothing here says whether a particular child would be offered a place.

This is information only, not advice. It may have mistakes in it, or be out of date. Check with the school and the council before you decide anything.

Figures current as of 14 September 2026.

## About the school

- Type of school: Academy
- Academy trust: Summit Education Trust
- Became an academy: 1 April 2026. Before that it was a foundation school, under its earlier school number, URN 110102.
- Ages: 11 to 18
- Boys or girls: Boys and girls
- Sixth form: Yes
- Website: http://www.thedownsschool.org
- Telephone: 01635 270000
- School number (URN): 151957

From Get Information about Schools. Schools update their own entries, so these can be out of date.

## Who decides who gets a place

This school sets its own admission rules, through its academy trust, rather than West Berkshire setting them.

Look on the school's own website for its admission arrangements. An admission authority has to agree its rules every year and publish them. The council still takes the application.

Taken from the kind of school this is, as recorded by the Department for Education. The rules themselves are not reproduced here: a summary of an admission rule is not the rule, and only the admission authority's own published arrangements are binding.

## How to apply

Applications for a place starting in September 2027 closed on 31 October 2026, unless your council set a later date.

That is a Saturday, and some councils accept applications until the next working day. Your council's website gives its own closing date.

Councils send every offer for secondary school places on the same day, 1 March 2027 or the next working day.

An application made after the closing date is what the rules call a late application. It is still a normal application and the council still handles it, but it is dealt with after the ones that arrived on time, so it does not get an answer on the day above.

You apply through the council where you live, even for a school in another area. You do not apply to the school. Find your council's secondary school application on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-secondary-school-place

To ask about visiting the school, or anything else about it, contact the school. http://www.thedownsschool.org, 01635 270000.

Links and dates can change. Your council's own website has the final word.

The dates are set nationally by the School Admissions Code 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2). GOV.UK link checked 23 September 2026.

## How many families applied

In the 2026 intake, 249 families named this school as their first preference, and it made 204 offers.

That is 1.22 first preferences per place offered, at Year 7. This describes demand. It is not a pass rate and not a prediction.

First preferences for this school changed little, from 242 a year in 2022–2023 to 246 in 2025–2026. Across all 10 schools in West Berkshire admitting at Year 7, first preferences changed little over the same years, from 2,164 to 2,000.

Across West Berkshire as a whole, 94.9% of families applying for a secondary place for September 2026 were offered their first choice, and 98.8% were offered one of the three schools they named. That is a figure for the council, not for this school.

### Compared with its own past

About the same number of families as its recent average put this school first.

In 2026, 249 families put this school first. In 2021 to 2025 the average was 250 a year.

In 2026, 523 families named this school somewhere on their list. In 2021 to 2025 the average was 455 a year.

In 2026, 79 in every 100 families who put this school first were offered a place here (196 of 249). In 2021 to 2025 it was 79 in every 100.

In 2026, 14 of the 204 offers went to children living outside West Berkshire. In 2021 to 2025 the average was 16 a year.

Some of the earlier years are from this school's record under its old school number.

Each figure is compared only with the same figure at this school. "About the same" means within 10 in every 100 of the average.

Figures before 2026 are from this school's earlier record, under its old school number (URN 110102), before it became an academy. The government's school register links the two, and they are the same school.

| Intake year | First preferences | Offers made | First preferences per place |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| 2026 | 249 | 204 | 1.22 |
| 2025 (old school number) | 244 | 201 | 1.21 |
| 2024 (old school number) | 259 | 205 | 1.26 |
| 2023 (old school number) | 234 | 205 | 1.14 |
| 2022 (old school number) | 250 | 206 | 1.21 |
| 2021 (old school number) | 262 | 208 | 1.26 |
| 2020 (old school number) | 237 | 207 | 1.14 |
| 2019 (old school number) | 249 | 207 | 1.20 |
| 2018 (old school number) | 223 | 207 | 1.08 |
| 2017 (old school number) | 249 | 175 | 1.42 |
| 2016 (old school number) | 231 | 177 | 1.31 |
| 2015 (old school number) | 247 | 176 | 1.40 |
| 2014 (old school number) | 213 | 177 | 1.20 |

## Where families put this school on their list

In 2026 this school made 204 offers: 196 to families who had named it first and 8 to families who named it second.

A school is not allowed to treat a family differently because of where it sat on their list. The School Admissions Code says an admission authority must not give extra priority to children whose parents rank preferred schools in a particular order.

The order is used at the end, by the council, and not by the school. Where more than one school could take a child, the council offers the one the family put highest.

Leaving the other boxes empty does not change how this school considers an application. If none of the schools a family names can offer a place, the council has to offer one at a school that has room, and that school may be further away.

Source: Department for Education, school level applications and offers, and the School Admissions Code 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2).

## Catchment area

We hold no published admission area for this school. That is not the same as an address being outside one. We cannot say either way.

## If you are refused a place

In 2026, families in West Berkshire lodged 59 appeals about a secondary school place.

40 of them were heard by a panel and 12 succeeded, which is about 30 in every 100 heard.

The other 19 did not reach a panel. Most appeals that do not are withdrawn because a place comes up first.

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.

These count appeals about every school in West Berkshire, not this school. Nobody publishes appeal figures school by school.

Source: Department for Education, admission appeals in England.

## Waiting lists

Being refused a place does not end the application. Every admission authority has to keep a waiting list until at least 31 December of the school year the child would have started, and some keep them for longer.

A waiting list is not a queue. The rules say a child cannot be given priority for having joined it earlier, or for having applied earlier. The list is put back in order against the school's own admission rules every time a child is added, so a place can move further away as well as nearer.

Councils differ on whether a refused child goes onto the list automatically. The council that sent the refusal is the only place that can say which it does.

From the School Admissions Code 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2), paragraph 2.15.

## Where these figures come from

- Department for Education: Get Information about Schools. School identity, type, phase, address, contact details and how it is run. https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- GOV.UK: apply for a school place. Where to find your council's secondary school application. Link checked 23 September 2026. https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-secondary-school-place
- Ofsted: state-funded school inspections management information. Inspection outcomes, published monthly. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/monthly-management-information-ofsteds-school-inspections-outcomes. Retrieved 14 September 2026.
- Department for Education: school-level applications and offers. Preferences and offers, 2014 to 2026 intakes. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/primary-and-secondary-school-applications-and-offers. Retrieved 14 September 2026.

"Retrieved" is the date of our copy of each source, not the year its figures describe.

## Using this information

This is information only, not advice. It may have mistakes in it, or be out of date. Check with the school and the council before you decide anything.

Full page: /school/151957/the-downs-school
Same figures as JSON: /school/151957.json