School admissions in Braintree
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 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.
Reception places, September 2026
17 schools. 6 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| Stisted Church of England Primary Academy | 2.20 | 15 |
| Bocking Primary School | 1.37 | 30 |
| Beckers Green Primary School | 1.34 | 44 |
| Great Bardfield Primary School | 1.20 | 20 |
| White Court School | 1.03 | 90 |
| Notley Green Primary School | 1.02 | 60 |
| Finchingfield St John the Baptist CofE Primary Academy | 1.00 | 13 |
| John Ray Infant School | 0.99 | 90 |
| Rayne Primary and Nursery School | 0.96 | 28 |
| St Michael's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School | 0.95 | 43 |
| Cressing Primary School | 0.93 | 30 |
| Shalford Primary School | 0.92 | 12 |
| Great Bradfords Infant and Nursery School | 0.88 | 59 |
| John Bunyan Primary School and Nursery | 0.86 | 74 |
| Lyons Hall School | 0.84 | 87 |
| St Francis Catholic Primary School, Braintree | 0.82 | 28 |
| Wethersfield CofE VC Primary School | 0.67 | 3 |
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.
Year 7 places, September 2026
3 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| Alec Hunter Academy | 1.12 | 202 |
| Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form | 0.87 | 206 |
| Tabor Academy | 0.83 | 153 |
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.