Secondary school offers in Staffordshire: offer day 2027

National Offer Day Monday 1 March 2027 · 49 secondary schools · first-choice odds, waiting lists and appeals

How likely is a first choice here?

For September 2026 entry, 91.9% of families living in Staffordshire were offered their first-choice secondary school, against 83.6% across England. 118 families (1.5%) were offered none of the schools they named. Staffordshire ranks 120 of 150 councils in England, hardest first (see every council).

17 of its 49 secondary schools had more first-choice applications than places.

The most sought-after, by first-choice applications per place offered: Blessed Robert Sutton Catholic Voluntary Academy (1.5 per place), Landau Forte Academy, QEMS (1.3 per place), The Friary School (1.2 per place), Madeley High School (1.1 per place), Blessed William Howard Catholic School (1.1 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 Accepting it does not affect a waiting list or an appeal, and a place that isn't accepted can be withdrawn.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 31 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 Staffordshire or the school.

• Abbot Beyne School Burton-on-Trent
• Blythe Bridge High School Stoke-on-Trent
• Cannock Chase High School Cannock
• Cardinal Griffin Catholic College Cannock
• Chase Terrace Academy Burntwood
• Clayton Hall Academy Newcastle-under-Lyme
• Great Wyrley Academy Walsall
• John Taylor Free School Burton-on-Trent
• Kidsgrove Secondary School Stoke-on-Trent
• King Edward VI High School Stafford
• Lift Rawlett Tamworth
• Lift Tamworth Tamworth
• Moorside High School Stoke-on-Trent
• Nether Stowe School Lichfield
• Newcastle Academy Newcastle Under Lyme
• Norton Canes High School Cannock
• Paget High School Burton-on-Trent
• Paulet High School Burton-on-Trent
• Sir Thomas Boughey Academy Stoke-on-Trent
• St John Fisher Catholic College Newcastle Under Lyme
• Stafford Manor High School Stafford
• Staffordshire University Academy Cannock
• The Cheadle Academy Stoke-on-Trent
• The de Ferrers Academy Burton-on-Trent
• The Hart School Rugeley
• The King's CofE Academy Stoke-on-Trent
• The Orme Academy Newcastle
• The Weston Road Academy Stafford
• The Wilnecote School Tamworth
• Walton High School Stafford
• Wombourne High School Wolverhampton

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 Staffordshire

Secondary school appeals across all of Staffordshire, 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 Staffordshire

• Every school in Staffordshire, with catchment areas and Ofsted
• Starting school in Staffordshire
• Map of schools near your home, with your chance of a place where we have the data