The Sheffield secondary schools which are the hardest to get into

New data shows most Sheffield households will be happy with where their child goes when they start in Y7 this September.

But for the parents disappointed they didn’t get their first place, they may be comforted to know some Sheffield schools are just that much harder to get into.

Figures have revealed nearly nine in 10 pupils in the Steel City got their first-choice secondary school for the upcoming academic year when allocated by the city council – and also show which schools had to turn down the most children who had them as their preferred place to go.

See our gallery below to see which Sheffield schools were the hardest to get into for the 2023/24 academic year and turned away the most children who had them as a ‘first choice’.

The schools are ranked by the percentage of applicants who had school as their first choice and got in, worked out by looking at how many places were offered to those who put them as their first preference compared with how many children who had them as their top choice were turned down.

The most difficult to get into for the upcoming academic year was Mercia School, which offered all 180 of its places to children who put it as a first place. But the school also had to turn away 107 children who had it as their top choice. It means 63 per cent of applicants who had the school as its top choice got in.

The ‘Outstanding’ rated school offered no places to children who placed it as their second or third choice when they applied for a secondary school place for the new school year.

Out of 6,549 children who applied for a secondary school in Sheffield for the 2023/24 academic year, 5,806 – or 88.7 per cent – got a place at their first choice. And 96.4 per cent got a place in at least one school in their top three choices.