School admissions in Darwen
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 4 of these schools also have a published admissions cutoff distance. 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.
Darwen in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 14 schools in Darwen first 334 times for 344 places: 0.97 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Blackburn with Darwen authority's 51 schools. 2 of the 14 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 2 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.92 miles (St James' Church of England Primary School) to 1.27 miles (Ashleigh Primary School).
Totals for the schools listed on this page. Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE; last-offer distances as the council published them.
Reception places, September 2026
14 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hoddlesden St Paul's Church of England Primary School | 1.34 | 29 | not published |
| St James' Church of England Primary School | 1.03 | 30 | 0.917 miles |
| Holy Trinity VC School | 1.00 | 4 | not published |
| St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School | 1.00 | 7 | not published |
| St Edward's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 1.00 | 13 | not published |
| St Stephen's Tockholes CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 3 | not published |
| Avondale Primary School | 0.98 | 53 | not published |
| Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary | 0.97 | 29 | not published |
| Darwen St James CofE Primary Academy | 0.97 | 29 | not published |
| Darwen St Peter's Church of England Primary School | 0.96 | 27 | not published |
| Ashleigh Primary School | 0.94 | 34 | 1.273 miles |
| St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School, Darwen | 0.88 | 16 | not published |
| Lower Darwen Primary School | 0.82 | 44 | not published |
| Darwen, St Barnabas CofE Primary Academy | 0.81 | 26 | 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.