School Admission Appeals

Contested schools in Cumberland

These are the Cumberland schools that turned first-choice families away in at least one of the last three years — either because more families named them first than they had places, or because they refused families who named them first anyway. Figures shown are for 2026/27. Demand is not a forecast: an oversubscribed school turns more families away, which is not the same as their appeals succeeding more often.

Appeal success rates for Cumberland

Secondary schools (10)

Each has its own page with a 12-year demand history.

Contested secondary schools in Cumberland, 2026/27
School Places First choices Per place
Richard Rose Central Academy 201 227 1.13
St John Henry Newman Catholic School 114 126 1.11
Caldew School 164 180 1.10
Richard Rose Morton Academy 171 181 1.06
The Whitehaven Academy 170 180 1.06
St Josephs Catholic High School, Workington 118 124 1.05
Workington Academy 194 195 1.01
Keswick School 200 199 0.99
Cockermouth School 175 172 0.98
William Howard School 222 202 0.91

Primary schools (19)

Primary schools are listed here as figures rather than pages. Most refusals at the Reception intake are infant class size cases, where a panel can only act on three narrow grounds and fewer than one in ten appeals succeeds — so the honest thing to publish is the data, not a page inviting an appeal.

Contested primary schools in Cumberland, 2026/27
School Places First choices Per place
Blackford CofE Primary School 8 10 —
Belle Vue Primary School 59 71 1.20
Kells Infant School 30 35 1.17
Fir Ends Primary School 15 17 —
Irthington Village School 8 9 —
Kingmoor Nursery and Infant School 88 98 1.11
Boltons CofE School 14 15 —
Eaglesfield Paddle CofE Primary Academy 30 32 1.07
Jericho Primary School 59 61 1.03
Cummersdale School 15 15 —
Cumwhinton School 28 28 1
Haverigg Primary School 26 26 1
Seaton Academy 35 35 1
Stoneraise School 24 24 1
Wiggonby CofE School 7 7 —
Newlaithes Infant School 48 45 0.94
Moresby Primary School 15 14 —
Yewdale School 29 27 0.93
Houghton CofE School 22 17 —

Department for Education, Primary and secondary school applications and offers, school-level file, 2026/27. Appeal outcomes are not published for individual schools — how we source and calculate the figures.