Academic year 2021/22

Secondary and primary school applications and offers

View latest data: Academic year 2023/24This is not the latest data

• Published: 17 June 2021
• Last updated: 10 November 2022
  See all updates (2)

  1. 10 November 2022

     new_la_code corrected for Buckinghamshire for the year 2021/22

  2. 15 June 2022

     Data source corrected under selective school chart in 'Secondary applications and offers' section

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These statistics provide the number of offers made to applicants for secondary and primary school places to start in September 2021, and the proportion which received preferred offers.

The data is collected from local authorities. The offers were made, and data collected, based on the national offer days of 1 March 2021 (secondary) and 16 April 2021 (primary).

Figures are provided at national, regional and local authority level. A time series is provided going back to 2014, when primary data was collected for the first time following the introduction of the first primary national offer day.

The application and offer data is gathered at pupil level from which school level figures can be produced. Contact the department at school.preference@education.gov.uk for more information about accessing this dataset.

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Headline facts and figures - 2021/22

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Secondary applications and offers

Secondary applications

605,200 applications were received for a place at secondary school in 2021. Applications had been increasing since 2014 until their first decrease between 2019 and 2020. The number of applications in 2021 represents an increase back to 2019 levels. 

Secondary results

The proportion of secondary applicants receiving an offer of their first choice school has dropped to 81.1% - down from 82.2% in 2020.

This figure will have been affected by the delay to the selective school tests. This meant that in some local authorities parents and carers could name selective schools on the form when their child may not have reached the standard required to be eligible for an offer. The comparative first preference rates for the last two years are provided in the chart below.

The proportion of applicants who received an offer of any of their preferred secondary schools was stable at 95.5% (95.6% in 2020).

A timeseries of key results from 2014 are provided in the following table.

Secondary geographical variation

At local authority level the three highest first preference rates were achieved in 2021 by:

• Northumberland (97.9%)
• Barnsley (97.0%)
• East Riding of Yorkshire (96.9%)

Northumberland has had the highest first preference rate in this measure for the last six years. Barnsley’s first preference rate was an increase of 3.5% on their 2020 figure (93.5%).

For the first time, the local authority with the lowest first preference rate was not in London. 

• Slough (56.1%)
• Hammersmith & Fulham (57.3%)
• Richmond upon Thames (59.8%)

However, Slough was one of the local authorities with selective schools where the test result was not known by the application deadline.

In London, the higher number of practical options available to applicants and the ability to name six schools may encourage parents and carers to make more speculative choices for their top preferences. 

As expected, there is much less variation in the proportions receiving any preferred offer compared to those for receiving a first preference.

Secondary cross local authority offers

An applicant can apply to their local authority for any school, including those situated in another local authority. 

In 2021 92.2% of secondary offers made were of schools inside the home authority. This figure reached a low of 91.4% in 2017/18 but has been very gradually increasing since then.

Primary applications and offers

Primary applications

580,800 applications were received for a place at primary school in 2021, a 5.1% decrease on 2020. 

This contrasts to a 0.5% increase in applications between 2019 and 2020.

There are likely to be a number of reasons behind this drop in applications: 

• There was a reduction in births in England from late 2016 onwards. The ages applying to start school in September 2021 were born between September 2016 and August 2017. 
• A number of local authorities advised during the collection process that a larger than usual number of applications were submitted late. The application deadline was during the winter pandemic period and therefore extra pressures on parents and carers may have impacted on them submitting their application on time. 
• These late applications will not be included in these figures, which cover on-time applications only. They will however be made an offer of a school place later in the offer process.
• It is possible that reactions to the pandemic have also reduced the number of applicants for a primary school place. For example there might be an increase in the number of parents and carers opting to home school.
• Reduction in migration, particularly because of the pandemic travel controls, may also have contributed to the reduction.

Primary results

The proportion of primary applicants receiving an offer of their first choice school has increased to 91.8% - up from 90.2% in 2020. The data suggests that, in general, where local authorities have had drops in applications, this has enabled them to make a higher proportion of first preference offers. 

The proportion of applicants who received an offer of any of their preferred primary schools also increased, to 98.4% in 2021 (from 97.8%).

A timeseries of key results from 2014 are provided in the following table.

Primary geographical variation

At local authority level the three highest first preference rates were achieved in 2021 by:

• Redcar and Cleveland (98.5%)
• Hartlepool (98.5%)
• Northumberland (98.4%)

Redcar and Cleveland also had the highest first preference rate in 2020, and Northumberland has been in the top three since 2019. 

As in previous years, the lowest first preference rates at primary level are all in London:

• Kensington and Chelsea (66.6%)
• Camden (77.8%)
• Islington (78.5%)

Kensington and Chelsea has been in the bottom three since 2015. 

The only non-London local authority in the bottom ten was:

• Southend-on-Sea (85.4%) 

The higher number of practical options available to London applicants and ability to name six preferences may encourage parents and carers to make more speculative choices for their top preferences. 

As expected, there is much less variation in the proportions receiving any preferred offer compared to those for receiving a first preference.

Primary cross local authority offers

An applicant can apply to their local authority for any school, including those situated in another local authority. 

In 2021 96.9% of primary offers made were of schools inside the home authority. This figure has been stable for the past few years.

Further information available

This release concentrates on the headline figures for the proportion of children receiving their first preference or a preferred offer. 

However, the data provides more information including:

• the number of places available
• the proportion of children for whom a preferred offer was not received
• the proportion of applicants who were provided with offers within or outside their home authority
• the number of non-applicants who were made an offer

Official statistics

These are Official Statistics and have been produced in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. 

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics: 

• meet identified user needs; 
• are well explained and readily accessible; 
• are produced according to sound methods; 
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest. 

Once statistics have been designated as Official Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. 

The Department has a set of statistical policies in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

• Secondary and primary school applications and offers

Official statistics

These are Official Statistics and have been produced in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• meet identified user needs
• produced according to sound methods
• well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Secondary and primary school applications and offers statistics and data:

School preference statistics team

Email: school.preference@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Helen Bray

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Telephone: 037 0000 2288

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