School admissions in Retford
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
17 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gamston St Peter's CofE Primary School | 1.07 | 15 | 3.18 miles |
| Bracken Lane Primary Academy | 1.00 | 27 | 1.36 miles |
| Carr Hill Primary and Nursery School | 1.00 | 19 | not published |
| Clarborough Primary School | 1.00 | 26 | not published |
| Elkesley Primary and Nursery School | 1.00 | 10 | not published |
| Hallcroft Infant and Nursery School | 1.00 | 19 | not published |
| Leverton Church of England Academy | 1.00 | 5 | not published |
| North Wheatley Church of England Primary School | 1.00 | 11 | not published |
| Ordsall Primary School | 1.00 | 57 | not published |
| Rampton Primary School | 1.00 | 9 | not published |
| Ranby CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 17 | 2.93 miles |
| Ranskill Primary School | 1.00 | 14 | 3.9 miles |
| St Swithun's Church of England Primary Academy | 1.00 | 8 | not published |
| St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | 1.00 | 23 | not published |
| Sturton CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 7 | not published |
| Sutton-Cum-Lound CofE School | 1.00 | 10 | not published |
| Thrumpton Primary Academy | 1.00 | 20 | 0.39 miles |
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.