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Secondary school offers in Bradford: offer day 2027

National Offer Day Monday 1 March 2027 · 35 secondary schools · first-choice odds, waiting lists and appeals

How likely is a first choice here?

For September 2026 entry, 78.1% of families living in Bradford were offered their first-choice secondary school, against 83.6% across England. 416 families (5.6%) were offered none of the schools they named. Bradford ranks 45 of 150 councils in England, hardest first (see every council).

13 of its 35 secondary schools had more first-choice applications than places.

The most sought-after, by first-choice applications per place offered: Dixons Kings Academy (2.3 per place), Dixons City Academy (2.2 per place), Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Bradford (1.9 per place), Feversham Girls' Secondary Academy (1.6 per place), Beckfoot School (1.5 per place).

If you didn't get your first choice

  1. Accept the place you were offered by the date in your offer letter. Accepting it does not affect a waiting list or an appeal, and a place that isn't accepted can be withdrawn.
  2. Get on the waiting lists you want. Every school must keep one until at least 31 December of the year your child starts. It is ranked by the school's admission rules, not by when you joined, so a family moving closer can go above you. Some councils add you automatically for schools you ranked higher than the one offered; your offer letter says which.
  3. Decide whether to appeal. You can appeal for every school that refused your child. You get at least 20 school days from the offer to lodge it, and on-time appeals must be heard within 40 school days of that deadline. The figures below show how often appeals succeed here.
  4. Look at schools that took lower preferences. These are the likeliest to have room now.

Schools that took children who ranked them lower

For September 2026 entry these 22 schools offered more places than they had first-choice applications, so some went to families who put them second or lower. They are the likeliest to have room after offer day; ask Bradford or the school.

Every secondary school: demand for 2026 entry

Sorted by first-choice applications per place, the most contested first.

SchoolPlaces offeredFirst choices per place First choices offered
Dixons Kings Academy
Bradford
151 2.3 33%
Dixons City Academy
Bradford
171 2.2 37%
Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Bradford
Bradford
112 1.9 45%
Feversham Girls' Secondary Academy
Bradford
123 1.6 59%
Beckfoot School
Bingley
271 1.5 63%
Dixons Trinity Academy
Bradford
126 1.4 58%
Carlton Keighley
Keighley
171 1.4 70%
Carlton Bolling
Bradford
288 1.3 75%
Dixons McMillan Academy
Bradford
130 1.3 61%
Trinity Academy Bradford
Bradford
201 1.2 74%
Ilkley Grammar School
Ilkley
290 1.2 80%
St Bede's and St Joseph's Catholic College, A Voluntary Academy
Bradford
283 1.1 83%
Appleton Academy
Bradford
163 1.0 90%
Bingley Grammar School
Bingley
282 0.9 80%
Titus Salt School
Bradford
236 0.9 89%
Immanuel College
Bradford
280 0.9 100%
Laisterdyke Leadership Academy
Bradford
176 0.9 97%
Hanson Academy
Bradford
288 0.8 100%
Tong Leadership Academy
Bradford
156 0.8 100%
Bradford Academy
Bradford
207 0.8 97%
Beckfoot Oakbank
Keighley
212 0.8 100%
Dixons Allerton Academy
Bradford
239 0.7 99%
Belle Vue Girls' Academy
Bradford
126 0.7 100%
Buttershaw Business & Enterprise College Academy
Bradford
243 0.7 100%
Beckfoot Thornton
Bradford
239 0.7 100%
Parkside School
Bradford
199 0.7 100%
Bradford Girls' Grammar School
Bradford
139 0.7 100%
Bronte Girls' Academy
Bradford
149 0.6 90%
Beckfoot Upper Heaton
Bradford
134 0.6 100%
Valley Academy
Bradford
71 0.6 100%
Bradford Forster Academy
Bradford
181 0.6 100%
The Holy Family Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy
Keighley
134 0.6 100%
Oasis Academy Lister Park
Bradford
102 0.6 100%
Dixons Cottingley Academy
Bingley
172 0.5 100%
Co-op Academy Grange
Bradford
277 0.4 100%

Places offered is the number of offers made on national offer day, and first choices offered the share of families who put the school first and got it (Department for Education, September 2026 entry).

Appeals in Bradford

YearAppeals lodgedHeard by a panel UpheldShare of heard appeals upheld
2025/26860 707 78 11.0%
2024/25756 583 78 13.4%
2023/24789 622 98 15.8%

Secondary school appeals across all of Bradford, from the Department for Education. Appeals are not published school by school. Across England in 2025/26, 19.5% of 27,084 secondary appeals heard were upheld. How appeal odds differ between councils.

More for Bradford

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