Contested schools in England
Appeal outcomes are published by council, but applications and offers are published school by school. These are the schools that turned first-choice families away in at least one of the last three years — 1,835 secondary and 5,797 primary — which is where refusals, and so appeals, are concentrated.
Nationally, 44.6% of secondary schools refused families who named them first (1,432 of 3,212); 38% had more first choices than places. See the national picture.
A school being heavily oversubscribed means more families are refused. It does not mean an appeal against it is more likely to succeed — no appeal figures are published for individual schools at all.
North East
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| County Durham | 14 | 47 |
| Darlington | 3 | 15 |
| Gateshead | 5 | 16 |
| Hartlepool | 1 | 8 |
| Middlesbrough | 5 | 14 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 6 | 28 |
| North Tyneside | 6 | 28 |
| Northumberland | 7 | 30 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 6 | 10 |
| South Tyneside | 5 | 16 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 7 | 18 |
| Sunderland | 6 | 23 |
North West
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Blackburn with Darwen | 7 | 18 |
| Blackpool | 4 | 15 |
| Bolton | 14 | 44 |
| Bury | 6 | 22 |
| Cheshire East | 10 | 56 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | 8 | 47 |
| Cumberland | 10 | 19 |
| Halton | 3 | 12 |
| Knowsley | 4 | 22 |
| Lancashire | 52 | 192 |
| Liverpool | 20 | 46 |
| Manchester | 18 | 37 |
| Oldham | 6 | 35 |
| Rochdale | 9 | 27 |
| Salford | 8 | 38 |
| Sefton | 9 | 37 |
| St. Helens | 3 | 25 |
| Stockport | 8 | 25 |
| Tameside | 9 | 29 |
| Trafford | 14 | 19 |
| Warrington | 6 | 28 |
| Westmorland and Furness | 9 | 21 |
| Wigan | 12 | 50 |
| Wirral | 13 | 32 |
Yorkshire and The Humber
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Barnsley | 7 | 27 |
| Bradford | 17 | 65 |
| Calderdale | 8 | 20 |
| Doncaster | 8 | 30 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 10 | 38 |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | 7 | 18 |
| Kirklees | 14 | 42 |
| Leeds | 24 | 95 |
| North East Lincolnshire | 7 | 7 |
| North Lincolnshire | 5 | 14 |
| North Yorkshire | 20 | 96 |
| Rotherham | 8 | 26 |
| Sheffield | 18 | 45 |
| Wakefield | 8 | 46 |
| York | 5 | 15 |
East Midlands
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Derby | 7 | 18 |
| Derbyshire | 19 | 78 |
| Leicester | 12 | 18 |
| Leicestershire | 28 | 79 |
| Lincolnshire | 35 | 70 |
| North Northamptonshire | 13 | 42 |
| Nottingham | 11 | 22 |
| Nottinghamshire | 24 | 83 |
| Rutland | 2 | 3 |
| West Northamptonshire | 11 | 45 |
West Midlands
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | 53 | 90 |
| Coventry | 11 | 35 |
| Dudley | 9 | 36 |
| Herefordshire, County of | 6 | 21 |
| Sandwell | 10 | 37 |
| Shropshire | 9 | 27 |
| Solihull | 11 | 20 |
| Staffordshire | 22 | 102 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 10 | 26 |
| Telford and Wrekin | 8 | 20 |
| Walsall | 13 | 33 |
| Warwickshire | 27 | 89 |
| Wolverhampton | 11 | 33 |
| Worcestershire | 14 | 66 |
East of England
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Bedford | 4 | 18 |
| Cambridgeshire | 18 | 74 |
| Central Bedfordshire | 2 | 44 |
| Essex | 42 | 187 |
| Hertfordshire | 55 | 172 |
| Luton | 7 | 11 |
| Norfolk | 28 | 101 |
| Peterborough | 8 | 19 |
| Southend-on-Sea | 8 | 15 |
| Suffolk | 20 | 71 |
| Thurrock | 7 | 18 |
London
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 7 | 15 |
| Barnet | 21 | 45 |
| Bexley | 11 | 22 |
| Brent | 10 | 19 |
| Bromley | 15 | 26 |
| Camden | 3 | 18 |
| Croydon | 9 | 34 |
| Ealing | 10 | 17 |
| Enfield | 8 | 20 |
| Greenwich | 10 | 18 |
| Hackney | 8 | 18 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 7 | 15 |
| Haringey | 7 | 24 |
| Harrow | 5 | 18 |
| Havering | 10 | 21 |
| Hillingdon | 11 | 18 |
| Hounslow | 9 | 21 |
| Islington | 6 | 15 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 5 | 9 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 9 | 16 |
| Lambeth | 8 | 24 |
| Lewisham | 11 | 24 |
| Merton | 7 | 16 |
| Newham | 6 | 23 |
| Redbridge | 12 | 22 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 9 | 20 |
| Southwark | 9 | 16 |
| Sutton | 12 | 14 |
| Tower Hamlets | 9 | 28 |
| Waltham Forest | 9 | 25 |
| Wandsworth | 5 | 26 |
| Westminster | 4 | 12 |
South East
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Bracknell Forest | 3 | 16 |
| Brighton and Hove | 6 | 20 |
| Buckinghamshire | 31 | 70 |
| East Sussex | 15 | 62 |
| Hampshire | 36 | 141 |
| Isle of Wight | 5 | 11 |
| Kent | 77 | 202 |
| Medway | 14 | 25 |
| Milton Keynes | 10 | 21 |
| Oxfordshire | 22 | 99 |
| Portsmouth | 5 | 17 |
| Reading | 6 | 13 |
| Slough | 10 | 9 |
| Southampton | 9 | 18 |
| Surrey | 34 | 119 |
| West Berkshire | 6 | 20 |
| West Sussex | 24 | 94 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | 5 | 21 |
| Wokingham | 6 | 15 |
South West
| Council | Secondary | Primary |
|---|---|---|
| Bath and North East Somerset | 8 | 18 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 15 | 26 |
| Bristol, City of | 14 | 35 |
| Cornwall | 13 | 52 |
| Devon | 15 | 73 |
| Dorset | 5 | 44 |
| Gloucestershire | 27 | 106 |
| North Somerset | 7 | 23 |
| Plymouth | 11 | 19 |
| Somerset | 9 | 66 |
| South Gloucestershire | 9 | 42 |
| Swindon | 7 | 20 |
| Torbay | 5 | 9 |
| Wiltshire | 10 | 56 |
Department for Education, Primary and secondary school applications and offers, school-level file, 2026/27. Covers 151 of the 151 councils that hear appeals — how we source and calculate the figures.