Schools in Westmorland and Furness
153 open schools · Ofsted ratings, catchment areas and admission criteria · best primary schools · best secondary schools
Westmorland and Furness has 148 state schools: 121 primary, 19 secondary, 1 all-through, 2 nursery. Between them they teach around 30,355 pupils. 128 have enough published data for a score, averaging 4.4 out of 10, and 5 score 8 or above.
16 have a sixth form. 93 take children from age three or under. 68 have a religious character, which usually means the school sets its own admissions criteria rather than the council's. 1 is selective and sets an entrance test. How the score works.
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Westmorland and Furness covers several towns — jump straight to the schools in yours.
Undersubscribed schools rated Good or Outstanding
These schools didn't fill on first preference in the latest admissions year, despite an Ofsted rating of Good or Outstanding — worth a look if you're chasing the same handful of famous names everyone else applies to.
How places are allocated in Westmorland and Furness
Primary schools: Catchment area is the primary criterion for primary schools; distance used outside catchment and as tiebreaker. (source)
Most schools use the local authority's default scheme rather than a school-specific catchment map — see each school's page for its own designated/catchment area where one is published.
Westmorland and Furness entrance test format
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith uses GL Assessment papers: two multiple-choice papers of around 50 minutes each, covering English (reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar) and related reasoning/maths content. Register directly with the school in Year 5; the test is sat in September of Year 6 with results in October, before the 31 October application deadline. Check the school's admissions page for the current year's exact paper structure and dates.
Key dates
| Entry year | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 2028 | Application deadline | 2027-10-31 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary application deadline | 2028-01-15 |
| Sept 2028 | Offer day | 2028-03-01 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary offer day | 2028-04-17 |
| Sept 2027 | Registration opens | 2026-05-01 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Registration closes | 2026-07-12 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Test date | 2026-09-17 |
| Sept 2027 | Application deadline | 2026-10-31 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary application deadline | 2027-01-15 |
| Sept 2027 | Offer day | 2027-03-01 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary offer day | 2027-04-16 |
| Sept 2026 | Application deadline | 2025-10-31 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary application deadline | 2026-01-15 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Offer day | 2026-03-02 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary offer day | 2026-04-16 (passed) |
Out-of-area applications
The only grammar school in Westmorland and Furness (and the northernmost grammar school in England) is Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith (mixed). It runs its own entrance test — register directly with the school in Year 5, test in September of Year 6. Children from outside the area (across Cumbria, and over the borders into County Durham and North Yorkshire) can register and apply. Apply via your home LA's Common Application Form by 31 October, and check the school's oversubscription criteria for distance/priority effects.
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