Schools near Carlisle
53 open schools in Carlisle, Cumberland · Ofsted ratings, catchment areas and admission criteria · see all Cumberland schools · grammar schools in Carlisle
Carlisle has 53 state schools: 45 primary, 5 secondary, part of Cumberland's wider catchment. 44 have a published Ofsted rating, and 35 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.
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 Cumberland
Primary schools: Catchment areas defined; where an area has none, the nearest school by GIS walking route serves as the catchment fallback. (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.
Carlisle straddles a council boundary: the scheme above is Cumberland's, and Westmorland and Furness also has schools here, applying under its own.
Key dates
| Entry year | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 2028 | Application deadline | 31 October 2027 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary application deadline | 15 January 2028 |
| Sept 2028 | Offer day | 1 March 2028 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary offer day | 17 April 2028 |
| Sept 2027 | Application deadline | 31 October 2026 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary application deadline | 15 January 2027 |
| Sept 2027 | Offer day | 1 March 2027 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary offer day | 16 April 2027 |
| Sept 2026 | Application deadline | 31 October 2025 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary application deadline | 15 January 2026 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Offer day | 2 March 2026 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary offer day | 16 April 2026 (passed) |
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