School admissions in Market Harborough
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 2 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.
Market Harborough in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 16 schools in Market Harborough first 396 times for 387 places: 1.02 first choices per place. 3 of the 16 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 2 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 1.93 miles (Cottingham Church of England Primary School) to 2.92 miles (Clipston Endowed Voluntary Controlled 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
16 schools. 3 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottingham Church of England Primary School | 1.50 | 20 | 1.928 miles |
| Wellington Place Primary School | 1.31 | 29 | not published |
| Clipston Endowed Voluntary Controlled Primary School | 1.20 | 15 | 2.923 miles |
| Church Langton Church of England Primary School | 1.00 | 27 | not published |
| Hallaton Church of England Primary School | 1.00 | 4 | not published |
| Meadowdale Primary School | 1.00 | 35 | not published |
| St Joseph's Catholic Voluntary Academy | 1.00 | 22 | not published |
| Wilbarston Church of England Primary School | 1.00 | 9 | not published |
| Farndon Fields Primary School | 0.98 | 44 | not published |
| Little Bowden School | 0.96 | 47 | not published |
| Bringhurst Primary School | 0.95 | 19 | not published |
| Great Bowden Academy, A Church of England Primary School | 0.94 | 18 | not published |
| Foxton Primary School | 0.93 | 15 | not published |
| Lubenham All Saints Church of England Primary School | 0.93 | 15 | not published |
| Market Harborough Church of England Academy | 0.92 | 48 | not published |
| Ridgeway Primary Academy | 0.90 | 20 | 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.