School admissions in Bideford
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 7 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.
Bideford in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 12 schools in Bideford first 292 times for 289 places: 1.01 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Devon authority's 299 schools. 2 of the 12 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 3 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 1.49 miles (St Helen's Church of England School) to 3.11 miles (Monkleigh 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
12 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appledore School | 1.40 | 30 | 2660 m (≈1.65 mi) |
| Monkleigh Primary School | 1.27 | 15 | 5013.1 m (≈3.11 mi) |
| Hartland Primary School | 1.00 | 11 | not published |
| St Helen's Church of England School | 1.00 | 30 | 2390.3 m (≈1.49 mi) |
| Woolsery Primary School | 1.00 | 14 | not published |
| West Croft School | 0.97 | 29 | not published |
| East-the-Water Community Primary School | 0.96 | 55 | not published |
| Instow Community Primary and Pre-School | 0.94 | 17 | 2038.3 m (≈1.27 mi) |
| St Mary's CofE Primary School | 0.91 | 34 | 2030.7 m (≈1.26 mi) |
| St George's CofE Infant and Nursery School | 0.89 | 37 | not published |
| Parkham Primary School | 0.89 | 9 | not published |
| Buckland Brewer Primary School | 0.88 | 8 | 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.