Contested schools in Darlington

These are the Darlington 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 Darlington

Secondary schools (3)

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

Contested secondary schools in Darlington, 2026/27
School	Places	First choices	Per place
Carmel College	216	305	1.41
Haughton Academy	187	181	0.97
Polam Hall School	107	101	0.94

Primary schools (15)

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 Darlington, 2026/27
School	Places	First choices	Per place
St John's Church of England Academy	30	47	1.57
Springfield Academy	31	40	1.29
Holy Family Catholic Primary School	30	38	1.27
Mowden Infant School	59	73	1.24
Mount Pleasant Primary School	30	33	1.10
St Bede's Catholic Primary School	45	49	1.09
Hurworth Primary School	30	31	1.03
Bishopton Redmarshall CofE Primary School	11	11	—
Corporation Road Community Primary School	29	29	1
West Park Academy	60	59	0.98
Heathfield Primary School	59	57	0.97
Polam Hall School	45	43	0.96
St Teresa's Catholic Primary School	44	42	0.95
Heighington Church of England Primary School	30	28	0.93
St Augustine's Catholic Primary 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.