School admissions in Stanley
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 2 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.
Stanley in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 15 schools in Stanley first 282 times for 282 places: 1.00 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the County Durham authority's 199 schools. One of the 15 had more first choices than places. For 2023 entry, one school here gave its last places on distance: Shield Row Primary School, to 1.30 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
15 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shield Row Primary School | 1.04 | 28 | 1.298 miles |
| Annfield Plain Infant School | 1.00 | 27 | not published |
| Beamish Primary School | 1.00 | 6 | not published |
| Bloemfontein Primary School | 1.00 | 7 | not published |
| Catchgate Primary School | 1.00 | 19 | not published |
| Collierley Nursery and Primary School | 1.00 | 18 | not published |
| East Stanley School | 1.00 | 17 | not published |
| South Stanley Infant and Nursery School | 1.00 | 25 | not published |
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Stanley | 1.00 | 14 | not published |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School, South Moor | 1.00 | 15 | not published |
| St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, Dipton | 1.00 | 14 | not published |
| Stanley Burnside Primary School | 1.00 | 19 | not published |
| Tanfield Lea Community Primary School | 1.00 | 34 | not published |
| West Pelton Primary School | 1.00 | 3 | not published |
| Greenland Community Primary School | 0.97 | 36 | 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.