School admissions in Darlington

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

28 schools. 7 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
St John's Church of England AcademyDarlington	1.57	30
Springfield AcademyDarlington	1.29	31
Holy Family Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	1.27	30
Mowden Infant SchoolDarlington	1.24	59
Mount Pleasant Primary SchoolDarlington	1.10	30
St Bede's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	1.09	45
Hurworth Primary SchoolDarlington	1.03	30
Bishopton Redmarshall CofE Primary SchoolBishopton	1.00	11
Corporation Road Community Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	29
High Coniscliffe CofE Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	10
Whinfield Primary SchoolDarlington	1.00	60
West Park AcademyDarlington	0.98	60
Northwood Primary SchoolDarlington	0.98	55
Heathfield Primary SchoolDarlington	0.97	59
Polam Hall SchoolDarlington	0.96	45
St Teresa's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	0.95	44
Heighington Church of England Primary SchoolNewton Aycliffe	0.93	30
St. George's Church of England AcademyDarlington	0.92	48
Red Hall Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	23
Abbey Infants' SchoolDarlington	0.91	80
Reid Street Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	45
Firthmoor Primary SchoolDarlington	0.91	32
Gurney Pease AcademyDarlington	0.90	20
Skerne Park AcademyDarlington	0.88	17
The Rydal AcademyDarlington	0.88	66
Harrowgate Hill Primary SchoolDarlington	0.85	27
St Mary's Cockerton Church of England Primary SchoolDarlington	0.80	30
St Augustine's Catholic Primary SchoolDarlington	0.77	22

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

8 schools. 1 received more first preferences than they had places.

School	First preferences per place	Places
Carmel CollegeDarlington	1.41	216
Haughton AcademyDarlington	0.97	187
Polam Hall SchoolDarlington	0.94	107
Longfield AcademyDarlington	0.94	130
Hurworth SchoolDarlington	0.93	118
St Aidan's Church of England AcademyDarlington	0.92	83
Wyvern AcademyDarlington	0.85	59
Hummersknott AcademyDarlington	0.83	247