School admissions in Shoreham-by-Sea
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.
Shoreham-by-Sea in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 6 schools in Shoreham-by-Sea first 205 times for 210 places: 0.98 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the West Sussex authority's 208 schools. 0 of the 6 had more first choices than places. For 2025 entry, one school here gave its last places on distance: St Peter's Catholic Primary School, to 0.49 miles.
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
6 schools. 0 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buckingham Park Primary School | 1.00 | 44 | not published |
| St Nicolas & St Mary CofE Primary School | 1.00 | 50 | not published |
| St Peter's Catholic Primary School | 1.00 | 28 | 795.93 m (≈0.49 mi) |
| Holmbush Primary Academy | 0.96 | 24 | 1492.18 m (≈0.93 mi) |
| Swiss Gardens Primary School | 0.94 | 35 | not published |
| Shoreham Beach Primary School | 0.93 | 29 | 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.