School admissions in Potters Bar
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 5 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.
Potters Bar in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 8 schools in Potters Bar first 282 times for 273 places: 1.03 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Hertfordshire authority's 364 schools. 4 of the 8 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 4 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.37 miles (Ladbrooke Junior Mixed and Infant School) to 2.29 miles (The Wroxham 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
8 schools. 4 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cranborne Primary School | 1.27 | 60 | 1745.03 m (≈1.08 mi) |
| Cuffley School | 1.10 | 59 | not published |
| Ladbrooke Junior Mixed and Infant School | 1.07 | 30 | 595.87 m (≈0.37 mi) |
| Little Heath Primary School | 1.03 | 29 | 1470.93 m (≈0.91 mi) |
| Pope Paul Catholic Primary School | 1.00 | 29 | not published |
| St Giles' CofE Primary School | 0.86 | 14 | not published |
| The Wroxham School | 0.76 | 29 | 3687.15 m (≈2.29 mi) |
| Oakmere Primary School | 0.70 | 23 | 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.