Secondary school offers in Lancashire: offer day 2027
National Offer Day Monday 1 March 2027 · 81 secondary schools · first-choice odds, waiting lists and appeals
How likely is a first choice here?
For September 2026 entry, 87.1% of families living in Lancashire were offered their first-choice secondary school, against 83.6% across England. 389 families (2.8%) were offered none of the schools they named. Lancashire ranks 92 of 150 councils in England, hardest first (see every council).
40 of its 81 secondary schools had more first-choice applications than places.
The most sought-after, by first-choice applications per place offered: Corpus Christi Catholic High School (1.8 per place), Bay Leadership Academy (1.6 per place), Millfield School (1.4 per place), Lathom High School : A Technology College (1.4 per place), St Michael's Church of England High School (1.4 per place).
If you didn't get your first choice
- 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 Accepting it does not affect a waiting list or an appeal, and a place that isn't accepted can be withdrawn.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 40 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 Lancashire or the school.
- Academy@Worden Leyland
- Accrington Academy Accrington
- Albany Academy Chorley
- Archbishop Temple Church of England High School Preston
- Baines School Poulton-le-Fylde
- Brownedge St Mary's Catholic High School Preston
- Burscough Priory Academy Ormskirk
- Cardinal Allen Catholic High School, Fleetwood Fleetwood
- Carnforth High School Carnforth
- Carr Hill High School Preston
- Christ The King Catholic High School Preston
- Colne Park High School Colne
- Colne Primet Academy Colne
- Eden Boys' School, Preston Preston
- Fleetwood High School FLEETWOOD
- Fulwood Academy Preston
- Garstang Community Academy Preston
- Hutton Church of England Grammar School Preston
- Lancaster High School Lancaster
- Longridge High School Preston
- Lytham St Annes High School Lytham St. Annes
- Morecambe Bay Academy Morecambe
- Ormskirk School Ormskirk
- Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic High School Skelmersdale
- Our Lady's Catholic College Lancaster
- Our Lady's Catholic High School Preston
- Penwortham Girls' High School Preston
- Rhyddings Accrington
- Ribblesdale School Clitheroe
- Sir John Thursby Community College Burnley
- Southlands High School Chorley
- St Augustine's Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy Clitheroe
- Tarleton Academy Preston
- The Hyndburn Academy Blackburn
- The Valley Leadership Academy Bacup
- Unity College Burnley
- Up Holland High School Wigan
- Walton-Le-Dale High School Preston
- Wellfield Academy Leyland
- West Craven High School Barnoldswick
Every secondary school: demand for 2026 entry
Sorted by first-choice applications per place, the most contested first.
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 Lancashire
| Year | Appeals lodged | Heard by a panel | Upheld | Share of heard appeals upheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | 897 | 667 | 166 | 24.9% |
| 2024/25 | 1253 | 1034 | 289 | 27.9% |
| 2023/24 | – | – | 313 | – |
Secondary school appeals across all of Lancashire, 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 Lancashire
- Every school in Lancashire, with catchment areas and Ofsted
- Starting school in Lancashire
- Map of schools near your home, with your chance of a place where we have the data
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