Research and guides
What the admissions figures councils and the Department for Education publish say, and how to use them when you apply.
- Last year's school cut-off is no safe guide
Secondary: only 31% of 358 oversubscribed schools had a last distance offered within 10% of the year before. - Primary school cut-offs moved even more than secondary
Reception: 50% of 177 oversubscribed primary schools moved by a quarter or more. - Where families are least likely to get their first-choice school
First-preference offer rates for every English council, secondary and primary, 2026. - Last distance offered: what it means and how to read it
A parent's guide with council examples: catchments, priority groups, straight line or walking route.
Secondary cut-offs by council, 2026
- Birmingham
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
- Bradford
- Bristol, City of
- Bromley
- Buckinghamshire
- Coventry
- Dudley
- Gloucestershire
- Hampshire
- Havering
- Hertfordshire
- Hillingdon
- Kirklees
- Leeds
- Luton
- Milton Keynes
- Nottinghamshire
- Richmond upon Thames
- Sefton
- Sheffield
- Solihull
- Staffordshire
- Stockport
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tameside
- Warwickshire
- West Sussex
Check the schools near you
Catchmently maps every school in England with its Ofsted report, results and the admissions figures councils publish, each linked to its source. Searching is free. The one-off 3-month pass shows each school's last distance offered year by year.