The School Record

Schools in Hertfordshire

440 schools with published admissions figures

The newest figures for each school. "1st prefs per place" is how many families put the school first, for each place it gave out. It measures demand, not whether a child would get a place. A dash means the figure is not available.

How the 2026 round went in Hertfordshire

Primary

For September 2026, 89.1% of families applying for a primary place here were offered their first choice, and 97.8% were offered one of the three schools they named.

That is 6.7 points higher than in 2016, when it was 82.4%.

The council's primary schools between them had 14,776 places for 12,543 applications. That is a total for the whole council and says nothing about any one school in it.

Secondary

For September 2026, 77.5% of families applying for a secondary place here were offered their first choice, and 92.4% were offered one of the three schools they named.

That is 2.0 points lower than in 2016, when it was 79.4%.

The council's secondary schools between them had 15,222 places for 13,456 applications. That is a total for the whole council and says nothing about any one school in it.

Source: Department for Education, applications and offers. The same round across England.

The rules Hertfordshire allocated under in 2026

From the council's own allocation reports for 2026, covering 294 schools. This is not the order of priority. The reports say how many children each rule admitted, never where the rule sits in the list, so these are ordered by the number of children and that is a different thing. For the rules in order, read the admission arrangements the admission authority publishes.

Used across the council

Recorded by most of its schools, so part of the council's standard scheme rather than one school's own arrangement.

RuleSchoolsChildren admitted
Siblings294 3,896
Nearest School280 3,318
Not Nearest School278 2,401
Education, Health & Care (EHC) Plan294 223
Non ranked allocation294 213
Children Looked After Or Previously Looked After294 68
Medical/Social291 10

Used by some schools only

Recorded by a minority of schools here, so more likely to belong to those schools' own arrangements than to the council's scheme.

RuleSchoolsChildren admitted
Linked Infant School25 1,521
Distance16 262
Priority Area2 31
Children of Staff54 25
Siblings In Priority Area1 24
In Priority Area, Distance1 21
St John's Linked Nursery1 10
Roebuck Linked Nursery1 8
In Priority Area, Nearest School1 7
Outside Priority Area, Distance1 0
Outside Priority Area, Nearest School1 0
Siblings Outside Priority Area1 0
Siblings Outside Priority Area, Nearest School1 0

These are the council's own names for its rules and cannot be compared with another council's. Source: the council's published allocation reports.

If a family is refused a place

In 2026, families in Hertfordshire lodged 1,041 appeals about a school place.

670 of them were heard by a panel and 113 succeeded, which is about 17 in every 100 heard.

The other 371 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.

Source: Department for Education, admission appeals in England, reporting year 2026. Counts every school in this council area. The share that succeeded is taken over appeals heard by a panel, not over appeals lodged.

All Through

School 1st prefs per place Demand since Latest Ofsted
King James Academy Royston
Royston		 - - Good
Ofsted graded inspection (previous framework)
Samuel Ryder Academy
St Albans		 1.00 - Strong standard
Ofsted report card (current framework)
Simon Balle All-Through School
Hertford		 1.18 - School remains Outstanding
Ofsted ungraded inspection

Elsewhere