School admissions in Witham
How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 4 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.
Witham in figures
For Reception places in September 2026, families named the 9 schools in Witham first 404 times for 417 places: 0.97 first choices per place, against 1.00 across the Essex authority's 411 schools. 3 of the 9 had more first choices than places. For 2026 entry, 4 schools here gave their last places on distance, from 0.36 miles (Chipping Hill Primary School) to 1.73 miles (White Notley Church of England Voluntary Controlled 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
9 schools. 3 received more first preferences than they had places.
| School | First preferences per place | Places | Cutoff distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chipping Hill Primary School | 1.58 | 60 | 0.365 miles |
| White Notley Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School | 1.53 | 15 | 1.731 miles |
| Elm Hall Primary School | 1.40 | 30 | 0.616 miles |
| Howbridge Infant School | 0.94 | 89 | 0.887 miles |
| Rivenhall Church of England Primary School | 0.90 | 20 | not published |
| Silver End Academy | 0.86 | 58 | not published |
| Holy Family Catholic Primary School | 0.70 | 30 | not published |
| Templars Academy | 0.64 | 47 | not published |
| Acorn Infant Academy | 0.60 | 68 | 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.