Schools near Penrith
29 open schools in Penrith, Westmorland and Furness · Ofsted ratings, catchment areas and admission criteria · see all Westmorland and Furness schools · grammar schools in Penrith
Penrith has 29 state schools: 27 primary, 2 secondary, part of Westmorland and Furness's wider catchment. 28 have a published Ofsted rating, and 23 of those are rated Good or Outstanding. 1 is a state grammar school and sets an entrance test.
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.
Have a specific question about admissions, scores or dates?
Ask SchoolsGPT