School admissions in West Malling
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 8 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.
West Malling in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 10 schools in West Malling first 374 times for 356 places: 1.05 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Kent authority's 429 schools. 5 of the 10 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 7 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.48 miles (Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy) to 2.33 miles (Offham Primary 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
10 schools. 5 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trottiscliffe Church of England Primary School | 1.67 | 12 | 0.607 miles |
| Ryarsh Primary School | 1.43 | 30 | 0.656 miles |
| Valley Invicta Primary School At Kings Hill | 1.21 | 29 | 0.851 miles |
| Kings Hill School Primary and Nursery | 1.20 | 60 | 0.691 miles |
| Valley Invicta Primary School At Leybourne Chase | 1.13 | 30 | 0.834 miles |
| More Park Catholic Primary School | 0.96 | 27 | not published |
| Offham Primary School | 0.93 | 30 | 2.331 miles |
| Leybourne, St Peter and St Paul Church of England Primary Academy | 0.93 | 29 | 0.484 miles |
| The Discovery School | 0.86 | 90 | not published |
| West Malling Church of England Primary School and McGinty Speech and Language Srp | 0.63 | 19 | 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.