Academic year 2024/25

Secondary and primary school applications and offers

Data guidance

Published

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘Secondary and primary school applications and offers: 2024’ Official Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in a new tab) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data (opens in a new tab).

The methodology document for this subject should be referenced alongside this release. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality and how the data is produced.

A guide for the 2024 data collection can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-preference-data-collections-guide (opens in a new tab).

Coverage

This release provides information on the number of applications made, the preferences listed and the number and preference level of offers for entries into:

  • the main entry point for state-funded secondary school (usually year 7)
  • state-funded primary school (reception year)

It includes national, regional and local authority level information on:

  • the number of places available
  • the number of applications received
  • the number and percentage of first, second, non-preferred etc preference offers made
  • the number and proportion of offers within and outside the home local authority

The information is based on the separate secondary and primary application and offer (preference) data collections returned by the local authorities.

File formats and conventions

Rounding

Primary and secondary suppression was applied in the 2014 dataset. No suppression has been applied from 2015 onwards

Conventions

The following convention is used throughout the underlying data.

‘c’         Suppressed (2014 only) 

‘z’         Not applicable.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Secondary and primary schools applications and offers 2024

Filename
appsandoffers_2024_la.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014/15 to 2024/25
Content
Number of places and applications: number and proportion of offers by preference rank; number and proportion of offers inside and outside home local authority.
Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
admission_numbersNumber of admission places available
applications_receivedNumber of applications received
first_preference_offersNumber of first preference offers
first_preference_offers_percentFirst preference rate
nc_year_admissionYear of admission
no_of_preferencesNumber of preferences allowed
no_offerNumber made no offer
no_offer_percentNo offer rate
non_preferred_offerNumber of non preferred offers
non_preferred_offer_percentNon preferred offer rate
offers_to_nonapplicantsTotal number of offers to non applicants
one_of_the_three_preference_offersNumber of top three preference offers
one_of_the_three_preference_offers_percentTop three preference rate
online_applicationsNumber of applications submitted online
online_apps_percentPercentage of applications submitted online
preferred_school_offerNumber of preferred offers
preferred_school_offer_percentPreferred offer rate
school_phaseSchool phase - collection phase
schools_in_another_la_offerNumber of offers in another LA
schools_in_another_la_offer_percentOther LA offer rate
schools_in_la_offerNumber of offers in home LA
schools_in_la_offer_percentHome LA offer rate
second_preference_offersNumber of second preference offers
second_preference_offers_percentSecond preference rate
third_preference_offersNumber of third preference offers
third_preference_offers_percentThird preference rate

Grouped selective secondary application and offer data

Filename
appsandoffers_2024_selectivegrouped.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2020/21 to 2024/25
Content
Grouped number and proportion of secondary offers by preference rank split by a) the LAs who have one or more selective schools and b) LAs who have no selective schools
Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
admission_numbersNumber of admission places available
admissions_groupGrouped figures by whether LA offers selective schools - selective groupings
applications_receivedNumber of applications received
first_preference_offersNumber of first preference offers
first_preference_offers_percentFirst preference rate
no_offerNumber made no offer
no_offer_percentNo offer rate
non_preferred_offerNumber of non preferred offers
non_preferred_offer_percentNon preferred offer rate
one_of_the_three_preference_offersNumber of top three preference offers
one_of_the_three_preference_offers_percentTop three preference rate
preferred_school_offerNumber of preferred offers
preferred_school_offer_percentPreferred offer rate
second_preference_offersNumber of second preference offers
second_preference_offers_percentSecond preference rate
third_preference_offersNumber of third preference offers
third_preference_offers_percentThird preference rate