School admissions in Brighton and Hove

How heavily each school was applied to for September 2026 entry, from the applications and offers every admissions authority reports to the DfE. 19 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.

Reception places, September 2026

42 schools. 10 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places	Cutoff distance
Peter Gladwin Primary SchoolBrighton	1.33	30	992.96 m (≈0.62 mi) 2026
Balfour Primary SchoolBrighton	1.32	90	1020.16 m (≈0.63 mi) 2026
Cottesmore St Mary's Catholic Primary SchoolHove	1.23	60	not published
Carlton Hill Primary SchoolBRIGHTON	1.20	30	845.53 m (≈0.53 mi) 2026
St Bernadette's Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	1.20	30	not published
Saltdean Primary SchoolBrighton	1.17	60	1772.89 m (≈1.10 mi) 2026
St Andrew's CofE (Aided) Primary SchoolHove	1.11	89	not published
West Hove Infant SchoolHove	1.07	121	1689.73 m (≈1.05 mi) 2026
Elm Grove Primary SchoolBrighton	1.05	60	2350.82 m (≈1.46 mi) 2026
St Luke's Primary SchoolBrighton	1.04	90	1679.44 m (≈1.04 mi) 2026
Middle Street Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	2	3108.59 m (≈1.93 mi) 2023
Moulsecoomb Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	16	not published
St Martin's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	27	not published
St Paul's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	1.00	20	not published
West Blatchington Primary and Nursery SchoolHove	1.00	15	2607.32 m (≈1.62 mi) 2023
Mile Oak Primary SchoolBrighton	0.97	40	not published
Carden Nursery and Primary SchoolBrighton	0.97	32	not published
Hangleton Primary SchoolHove	0.97	30	not published
Goldstone Primary SchoolHove	0.96	75	2706.48 m (≈1.68 mi) 2023
City Academy WhitehawkBrighton	0.95	40	not published
Coldean Primary SchoolBrighton	0.94	36	not published
Bevendean Primary School and NurseryBrighton	0.94	33	not published
Our Lady of Lourdes RC SchoolBrighton	0.93	30	not published
Rudyard Kipling Primary School & NurseryBrighton	0.93	60	4993.99 m (≈3.10 mi) 2026
Bilingual Primary School - Brighton & HoveBrighton and Hove	0.93	89	not published
Fairlight Primary SchoolBrighton	0.93	44	not published
Brunswick Primary SchoolHove	0.93	54	not published
Westdene Primary SchoolBrighton	0.92	59	5830.95 m (≈3.62 mi) 2026
St Nicolas CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	0.91	56	not published
Patcham Infant SchoolBrighton	0.91	85	not published
Benfield Primary SchoolBrighton	0.90	10	658.3 m (≈0.41 mi) 2022
Aldrington CofE Primary SchoolHove	0.90	58	not published
St Margaret's CofE Primary School, RottingdeanBrighton	0.90	29	not published
Brackenbury Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	19	1920.98 m (≈1.19 mi) 2023
St Mary's Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	28	not published
Downs Infant SchoolBrighton	0.89	90	1888.26 m (≈1.17 mi) 2026
St Mary Magdalen Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.89	9	not published
Stanford Primary SchoolBrighton	0.84	58	1497.44 m (≈0.93 mi) 2025
Hertford Primary SchoolBrighton	0.83	18	985.32 m (≈0.61 mi) 2025
St John the Baptist Catholic Primary SchoolBrighton	0.82	17	not published
St Mark's CofE Primary SchoolBrighton	0.81	16	not published
Queen's Park Primary SchoolBrighton	0.72	18	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.

Year 7 places, September 2026

10 schools. 3 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
Cardinal Newman Catholic SchoolHove	1.40	346
Varndean SchoolBrighton	1.25	279
King's SchoolHove	1.24	171
Dorothy Stringer SchoolBrighton	0.91	319
Portslade Aldridge Community AcademyBrighton	0.87	172
Brighton Aldridge Community AcademyBrighton	0.84	134
Blatchington Mill SchoolHove	0.78	323
Longhill High SchoolBrighton	0.75	93
Patcham High SchoolBrighton	0.73	198
Hove Park School and Sixth Form CentreHove	0.68	135