School admissions in Bacup
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 2 of these schools also have a published admissions cutoff distance. Sorted by first preferences per place. We don't invent rankings: the order is arithmetic on a published figure, not a view about which school is better.
Bacup in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 8 schools in Bacup first 123 times for 122 places: 1.01 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Lancashire authority's 472 schools. 2 of the 8 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 2 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.90 miles (Britannia Community Primary School) to 1.00 miles (Sharneyford Primary School).
Totals for the schools listed on this page. Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE; last-offer distances as the council published them.
Reception places, September 2026
8 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Britannia Community Primary School | 1.20 | 30 | 0.9 miles |
| Sharneyford Primary School | 1.20 | 10 | 1 miles |
| St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 1.00 | 5 | not published |
| Bacup Thorn Primary School | 0.96 | 24 | not published |
| Bacup Holy Trinity Stacksteads Church of England Primary School | 0.94 | 16 | not published |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Stacksteads, Bacup | 0.90 | 10 | not published |
| Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School | 0.86 | 7 | not published |
| Northern Primary School | 0.85 | 20 | not published |
First preferences per place is the number of families naming the school first, divided by its published admission number. Above 1.00 means more first choices than places. It is not a ranking and not a measure of quality: a popular school can be easy to get into and a quiet one hard, because places are allocated by each school's own criteria, siblings and faith and banding first, with distance often the last tie-breaker. Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE.