School admissions in Whitehaven
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. None of these schools has 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.
Whitehaven in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 11 schools in Whitehaven first 259 times for 259 places: 1.00 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Cumberland authority's 130 schools. 2 of the 11 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
11 schools. 2 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places |
|---|---|---|
| Kells Infant School | 1.17 | 30 |
| Jericho Primary School | 1.03 | 59 |
| Lowca Community School | 1.00 | 5 |
| St Bridget's CofE School | 1.00 | 5 |
| St Gregory and St Patrick's Catholic Infant School | 1.00 | 36 |
| St James' CofE Infant and Nursery School | 1.00 | 27 |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School | 0.95 | 21 |
| Bransty Primary School | 0.94 | 18 |
| Hensingham Primary School | 0.94 | 16 |
| Moresby Primary School | 0.93 | 15 |
| Valley Primary School and Nursery | 0.89 | 27 |
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.