School admissions in Margate
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
8 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Gregory's Catholic Primary School, Margate | 1.43 | 30 | 0.335 miles |
| Palm Bay Primary School | 1.20 | 60 | 0.978 miles |
| Salmestone Primary School | 0.93 | 30 | 0.477 miles |
| Margate, Holy Trinity and St John's Church of England Primary School | 0.93 | 56 | 1.56 miles |
| Northdown Primary School | 0.92 | 25 | not published |
| Garlinge Primary School and Nursery | 0.90 | 84 | not published |
| Cliftonville Primary School | 0.90 | 120 | not published |
| Drapers Mills Primary Academy | 0.73 | 22 | 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.