School admissions in Brighton

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

35 schools. 8 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places	Cutoff distance
Peter Gladwin Primary SchoolBrighton	1.33	30	992.96 m (≈0.62 mi) 2026
Balfour Primary SchoolBrighton	1.32	90	1020.16 m (≈0.63 mi) 2026
Carlton Hill Primary SchoolBRIGHTON	1.20	30	845.53 m (≈0.53 mi) 2026
St Bernadette's Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	1.20	30	not published
Saltdean Primary SchoolBrighton	1.17	60	1772.89 m (≈1.10 mi) 2026
Elm Grove Primary SchoolBrighton	1.05	60	2350.82 m (≈1.46 mi) 2026
St Luke's Primary SchoolBrighton	1.04	90	1679.44 m (≈1.04 mi) 2026
Eastbrook Primary AcademyBrighton	1.02	42	1512.01 m (≈0.94 mi) 2022
Glebe Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	36	not published
Middle Street Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	2	3108.59 m (≈1.93 mi) 2023
Moulsecoomb Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	16	not published
St Martin's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	27	not published
St Paul's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	20	not published
Mile Oak Primary SchoolBrighton	0.97	40	not published
Carden Nursery and Primary SchoolBrighton	0.97	32	not published
City Academy WhitehawkBrighton	0.95	40	not published
Coldean Primary SchoolBrighton	0.94	36	not published
Bevendean Primary School and NurseryBrighton	0.94	33	not published
Our Lady of Lourdes RC SchoolBrighton	0.93	30	not published
Rudyard Kipling Primary School & NurseryBrighton	0.93	60	4993.99 m (≈3.10 mi) 2026
Fairlight Primary SchoolBrighton	0.93	44	not published
Westdene Primary SchoolBrighton	0.92	59	5830.95 m (≈3.62 mi) 2026
St Nicolas CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	0.91	56	not published
Patcham Infant SchoolBrighton	0.91	85	not published
Benfield Primary SchoolBrighton	0.90	10	658.3 m (≈0.41 mi) 2022
St Margaret's CofE Primary School, RottingdeanBrighton	0.90	29	not published
Brackenbury Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	19	1920.98 m (≈1.19 mi) 2023
St Mary's Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	28	not published
Downs Infant SchoolBrighton	0.89	90	1888.26 m (≈1.17 mi) 2026
St Mary Magdalen Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	9	not published
Stanford Primary SchoolBrighton	0.84	58	1497.44 m (≈0.93 mi) 2025
Hertford Primary SchoolBrighton	0.83	18	985.32 m (≈0.61 mi) 2025
St John the Baptist Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.82	17	not published
St Mark's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	0.81	16	not published
Queen's Park Primary SchoolBrighton	0.72	18	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.

Year 7 places, September 2026

6 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
Varndean SchoolBrighton	1.25	279
Dorothy Stringer SchoolBrighton	0.91	319
Portslade Aldridge Community AcademyBrighton	0.87	172
Brighton Aldridge Community AcademyBrighton	0.84	134
Longhill High SchoolBrighton	0.75	93
Patcham High SchoolBrighton	0.73	198