School admissions in Saffron Walden

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

12 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
Clavering Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	1.03	30
Ashdon Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	1.00	7
Debden Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary AcademySaffron Walden	1.00	14
Great Sampford Community Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	1.00	13
Katherine Semar Infant SchoolSaffron Walden	1.00	59
R A Butler Infant SchoolSaffron Walden	1.00	87
St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	1.00	25
St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Saffron WaldenSaffron Walden	1.00	23
Radwinter Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	0.97	30
Great Chesterford Church of England Primary AcademySaffron Walden	0.96	27
Rickling Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary SchoolSaffron Walden	0.92	13
Wimbish Primary AcademySaffron Walden	0.60	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.