The Yorkshire areas where children are most and least likely to get their parents' first choice primary school

In just a few months time, a whole new generation of children will enter reception at a brand new primary school.

It will be the first step in an educational journey more than a decade long, at the very least. One that helps them establish key skills they will rely on as they navigate the rest of their lives.

But not all of them will necessarily be going to the school their parents had hoped. Last week, the Government released its latest figures on state school applications and offers, which showed that 92.6% of children got into their family’s first choice of primary school for the upcoming 2025/26 school year.

While this will be great news for most, that means that about seven out of every hundred new primary school pupils either got an offer from another one of their preferred schools, or another option altogether. And with 550,270 families applying for a place for their child at a state-funded primary for the upcoming school year, that equates to more than 38 thousand children.

If your child didn’t get a place at your first choice of school, it’s likely through no fault of your own. The Government says that there can be all sorts of reasons behind this, including local school quality, travel patterns, and the demand for school places in your area - all of which vary depending on where you live.

We’ve broken the new data down by local authority area to help parents of primary school-aged children across Yorkshire get a general idea of what acceptance rates look like in their community. Council areas have been ranked based on the percentage of new starters offered a spot in their family’s first choice of school - and we’ve also included the percentage of children offered a place in at least one of their chosen options for each area.

Here’s how each of them did, from those with the highest first choice offer rates, to those with the lowest: