School admissions in Wickford
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 1 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.
Wickford in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 9 schools in Wickford first 383 times for 391 places: 0.98 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Essex authority's 411 schools. One of the 9 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, one school here gave its last places on distance: Grange Primary School, to 0.51 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
9 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grange Primary School | 1.22 | 45 | 0.512 miles |
| Abacus Primary School | 1.00 | 59 | not published |
| Hilltop Infant School | 1.00 | 57 | not published |
| St Luke's Park Primary School | 1.00 | 26 | not published |
| Oakfield Primary School | 0.97 | 60 | not published |
| Runwell Community Primary School | 0.97 | 30 | not published |
| Wickford Primary School | 0.94 | 51 | not published |
| North Crescent Primary School | 0.90 | 21 | not published |
| The Wickford Church of England School | 0.76 | 42 | 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.