School admissions in Bury

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
Chantlers Primary SchoolBury	1.78	36	0.386 miles 2026
Sunny Bank Primary SchoolBury	1.63	30	1.003 miles 2025
Edenfield Church of England Primary SchoolBury	1.57	30	not published
Emmanuel Holcombe Church of England Primary SchoolBury	1.27	15	not published
St Joseph and St Bede RC Primary School, a Voluntary AcademyBury	1.16	45	not published
St Luke's CofE Primary SchoolBury	1.10	60	0.327 miles 2026
Heap Bridge Village Primary SchoolBury	1.08	24	not published
St Peter's Church of England Primary SchoolBury	1.07	30	0.366 miles 2026
Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary SchoolBury	1.00	7	not published
Greenmount Primary SchoolBury	1.00	24	1.186 miles 2023
Holly Mount Roman Catholic Primary School, BuryBury	1.00	33	not published
Peel Brow SchoolBury	1.00	8	not published
Tottington Primary SchoolBury	0.97	32	1.104 miles 2024
St John's Church of England Primary School, RadcliffeBury	0.96	25	not published
Woodbank Primary SchoolBury	0.94	35	not published
St Thomas Church of England Primary SchoolBury	0.93	59	0.942 miles 2026
East Ward Community Primary SchoolBury	0.93	57	2.048 miles 2024
Chesham Primary AcademyBury	0.93	42	0.486 miles 2023
Christ Church CofE Primary SchoolBury	0.92	24	not published
Old Hall Primary SchoolBury	0.91	11	not published
St John with St Mark CofE Primary SchoolBury	0.91	43	0.91 miles 2022
Springside Primary SchoolBury	0.88	34	not published
Unsworth Primary SchoolBury	0.87	31	1.287 miles 2026
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School Ramsbottom, a Voluntary AcademyBury	0.87	23	not published
Hazlehurst Primary AcademyBury	0.84	19	0.52 miles 2023
Lowercroft Primary SchoolBury	0.83	30	2.179 miles 2026
Summerseat Methodist Primary SchoolBury	0.83	12	not published
Ramsbottom Stubbins Primary SchoolBury	0.81	26	not published
Elton Community Primary SchoolBury	0.79	33	not published
Holy Trinity Primary SchoolBury	0.77	30	not published
St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, RamsbottomBury	0.75	12	not published
Greenhill Primary SchoolBury	0.73	26	0.491 miles 2025
Hollins Grundy Primary SchoolBury	0.71	28	0.794 miles 2023
St Paul's Church of England Primary SchoolBury	0.71	28	not published
St Stephen's Church of England Primary SchoolBury	0.53	15	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

7 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places	Cutoff distance
The Elton High SchoolBury	1.32	210	0.871 miles 2026
Woodhey High SchoolBury	1.22	226	1.909 miles 2026
Unsworth AcademyBury	0.96	199	1.273 miles 2024
Hazel Wood High SchoolBury	0.90	113	1.43 miles 2024
Bury Church of England High SchoolBury	0.85	127	not published
St Gabriel's RC High School, a Voluntary AcademyBury	0.79	189	not published
Tottington High SchoolBury	0.59	117	not published