School admissions in High Peak
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
11 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| New Mills Primary School | 1.13 | 30 |
| Whaley Bridge Primary School | 1.03 | 30 |
| Buxworth Primary School | 1.00 | 12 |
| Chapel-en-le-Frith CofE VC Primary School | 1.00 | 41 |
| Furness Vale Primary and Nursery School | 1.00 | 7 |
| Hague Bar Primary School | 1.00 | 6 |
| Hayfield Primary School | 1.00 | 20 |
| St George's CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 4 |
| Taxal and Fernilee CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 15 |
| St Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy | 0.82 | 11 |
| Thornsett Primary School (High Peak Federation) | 0.78 | 9 |
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.