School admissions in Clitheroe

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. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
Barrow URC Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.33	30
Waddington and West Bradford Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.07	28
Bolton by Bowland Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	5
Clitheroe Brookside Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	8
Edisford Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	30
Gisburn Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	16
Grindleton Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	3
Ribblesdale SchoolClitheroe	1.00	24
Slaidburn Brennands Endowed Primary SchoolClitheroe	1.00	2
St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Hurst GreenClitheroe	1.00	14
St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, SabdenClitheroe	1.00	5
St Michael and St John's Roman Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary AcademyClitheroe	1.00	10
Thorneyholme Roman Catholic Primary School, Dunsop BridgeClitheroe	1.00	6
Clitheroe Pendle Primary SchoolClitheroe	0.96	48
Chatburn Church of England Primary SchoolClitheroe	0.94	16
St James' Church of England Primary School, ClitheroeCLITHEROE	0.87	15
Whalley Church of England Primary SchoolClitheroe	0.86	43

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

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

School	First preferences per place	Places
Clitheroe Royal Grammar SchoolClitheroe	1.32	175
Bowland HighClitheroe	1.04	133
Ribblesdale SchoolClitheroe	0.93	276
St Augustine's Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary AcademyClitheroe	0.93	214