School admissions in Waltham Abbey
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.
Waltham Abbey in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 5 schools in Waltham Abbey first 235 times for 244 places: 0.96 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Essex authority's 411 schools. 0 of the 5 had more first choices than places.
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
5 schools. 0 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| Hillhouse CofE Primary School | 0.98 | 49 |
| Leverton Primary School | 0.98 | 43 |
| Waltham Holy Cross Primary Academy | 0.98 | 81 |
| Upshire Primary Foundation School | 0.96 | 26 |
| Nazeing Primary School | 0.91 | 45 |
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.