Primary schools Sheffield: There are hardest schools to get a place at as 2023 applications open

Primary school applications for schools in Sheffield have opened for parents to secure a place in September 2023. To help you make your choice, The Star has compiled the data to show which schools in the Steel City were the hardest to get into this year. In fact, figures show how out of Sheffield’s 121 schools, only 18 are not oversubscribed or have a waiting list of children trying to get in.

During this year’s intake, some schools were in a position where they were turning away more children than they accepted, with as many as three children vying for every seat in the classroom. By looking at how ‘oversubscribed’ schools are, it’s possible to see which in Sheffield are the hardest to get into. Oversubscribed schools happen when there are more parents applying for places than are available, resulting in a waiting list in case those places fall through.

But parents get to apply for three preferences when trying to get an education for their little ones. It can lead to cases like Loxley Primary School, which only had 30 places to give out but had 143 children vying for them. Seven schools in the city have waiting lists that are twice as long as the number of pupils they can even take. However, Sheffield City Council says 95 per cent of students this academic year received a place at one of their three preferred schools.

Below is a list of Sheffield’s most oversubscribed primary schools according to a Freedom of Information request by The Star.