School admissions in Barnard Castle
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 1 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.
Barnard Castle in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 6 schools in Barnard Castle first 91 times for 90 places: 1.01 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the County Durham authority's 199 schools. One of the 6 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, one school here gave its last places on distance: Montalbo Nursery & Primary School, to 0.81 miles.
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
6 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montalbo Nursery & Primary School | 1.40 | 30 | 0.809 miles |
| Bowes Hutchinson's CofE (Aided) School | 1.00 | 5 | not published |
| Middleton-In-Teesdale Academy | 1.00 | 10 | not published |
| Cotherstone Primary School | 0.91 | 11 | not published |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Barnard Castle | 0.79 | 14 | not published |
| Green Lane Church of England Primary School | 0.65 | 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.