School admissions in Darlington

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

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

School	First preferences per place	Places
St John's Church of England AcademyDarlington	1.57	30
Springfield AcademyDarlington	1.29	31
Holy Family Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	1.27	30
Mowden Infant SchoolDarlington	1.24	59
Mount Pleasant Primary SchoolDarlington	1.10	30
St Bede's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	1.09	45
Hurworth Primary SchoolDarlington	1.03	30
Corporation Road Community Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	29
Croft Church of England Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	13
Gainford Church of England Primary School and PreschoolDarlington	1.00	7
High Coniscliffe CofE Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	10
Ingleton CofE Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	5
Staindrop CofE (Controlled) Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	29
Whinfield Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	60
West Park AcademyDarlington	0.98	60
Northwood Primary SchoolDarlington	0.98	55
Heathfield Primary SchoolDarlington	0.97	59
Polam Hall SchoolDarlington	0.96	45
St Teresa's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	0.95	44
Red Hall Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	23
Abbey Infants' SchoolDarlington	0.91	80
Reid Street Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	45
Firthmoor Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	32
Gurney Pease AcademyDarlington	0.90	20
Skerne Park AcademyDarlington	0.88	17
The Rydal AcademyDarlington	0.88	66
Harrowgate Hill Primary SchoolDarlington	0.85	27
St Mary's Cockerton Church of England Primary SchoolDarlington	0.80	30
St Augustine's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	0.77	22

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

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

School	First preferences per place	Places	Cutoff distance
Carmel CollegeDarlington	1.41	216	not published
Staindrop AcademyDarlington	0.99	95	10.96 miles 2025
Haughton AcademyDarlington	0.97	187	not published
Polam Hall SchoolDarlington	0.94	107	not published
Longfield AcademyDarlington	0.94	130	not published
Hurworth SchoolDarlington	0.93	118	not published
St Aidan's Church of England AcademyDarlington	0.92	83	not published
Wyvern AcademyDarlington	0.85	59	not published
Hummersknott AcademyDarlington	0.83	247	not published