School admissions in Southsea
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 7 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.
Southsea in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 8 schools in Southsea first 342 times for 346 places: 0.99 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Portsmouth authority's 37 schools. 3 of the 8 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 3 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.30 miles (St Swithun's Catholic Primary School) to 0.57 miles (Cumberland Infant 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. 3 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Swithun's Catholic Primary School | 1.22 | 45 | 0.305 miles |
| Cumberland Infant School | 1.15 | 60 | 0.568 miles |
| Moorings Way Infant School | 1.03 | 30 | 0.356 miles |
| Devonshire Infant School | 0.94 | 47 | not published |
| Cottage Grove Primary School and Nursery | 0.91 | 58 | not published |
| Meon Infant School | 0.90 | 39 | not published |
| Bramble Infant School and Nursery | 0.87 | 38 | 0.709 miles |
| Southsea Infant School | 0.76 | 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.