School admissions in Kendal
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 1 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.
Kendal in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 16 schools in Kendal first 283 times for 283 places: 1.00 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Westmorland and Furness authority's 112 schools. 0 of the 16 had more first choices than places.
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
16 schools. 0 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| Castle Park School | 1.00 | 30 |
| Crosscrake CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 5 |
| Crosthwaite CofE School | 1.00 | 9 |
| Dean Gibson Catholic Primary School, Kendal | 1.00 | 14 |
| Ghyllside Primary School | 1.00 | 59 |
| Grayrigg CofE School | 1.00 | 13 |
| Heron Hill Primary School | 1.00 | 56 |
| Levens CofE School | 1.00 | 13 |
| Old Hutton CofE School | 1.00 | 6 |
| Selside Endowed CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 4 |
| St Oswald's CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 6 |
| St Patrick's CofE School | 1.00 | 11 |
| St Thomas's CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 23 |
| Staveley CofE School | 1.00 | 10 |
| Stramongate Primary School | 1.00 | 19 |
| Vicarage Park CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 5 |
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.