Secondary National Offer Day 2026

[LancreWowhawk]

Is anyone else anxiously awaiting news of secondary school allocations for September 2026? If so, come and bite your nails with me!

We've applied for 4 schools in our London borough, 3 girls schools and then our 4th choice is co-ed. Last year, we'd have got whichever one we put first, which will be down to changing demographics in London, so I'm hoping the same is true this year. As recently as 3 years ago, we wouldn't have got either of our first 2 choices on either faith or distance grounds, so I'm not counting my chickens!

We should be safe with either of our 3rd or 4th choices, as there's no year we wouldn't have got either of them, but still - I just want to know now!

For those worried about distance the 'last distance' info from previous years is the distance of the first round of offers on allocation day.

Not the second round that happens a couple of weeks after the acceptance deadline. There is usually a widening of distance then and so on as more waiting list places get offered and other places released.

(the bad news is that late applications get considered at that stage so if they live closer / have higher criteria they will bump you down)

To your point , does this mean also if I change my mind and want to be added to a wait list even if I haven’t applied for the school first time I could bump someone negatively if I live closer etc ? I wondering this point .

Yes,

You could go on the waiting list for any school you like after Offer Day and waiting lists have to be maintained in order of Admissions Criteria.

You would need to accept your offered place (unless prepared to risk ending up with no place at all) and then go on waiting lists. People do this if they have changed their mind about first preference and now want to try for the school they put second. For example,

I'm so tense. We are in a stupid area for schools with no completely safe choice. Hopefully numbers will be slightly down this year are we'll be ok.

I remember being very nervous 3 years ago but we got our 1st choice. It was probably never in doubt as we were catchment, but popular school and big school year in county.

This time it’s pretty much guaranteed- in catchment sibling. I may even go to sleep and find out on Monday morning.

We don't have catchments as such it's just done on who is closer until the school is full. And we won't find out until after 5 on Monday I think. Bloody London 😣

I’m glad I found this thread. I thought it was Thursday. I live in one of those northern towns where there isn’t really any choice (unless you’re Catholic or take the grammar school exam) so only put the one option. Something’s got to go really wrong if 300 children live closer than us.

So I'm thinking tonight is the main distraction night and tomorrow night it's ok to just be nervous and not expect any different! Tomorrow night I don't know whether to just wait up until midnight, log on and check. Or go to sleep and check when I get up for a wee in the night! I might make it to the early hours. The thing is I don't think I will get back to sleep after I know, whether it's good or bad news.

Good luck to you all!
I hope it'll be champagne corks popping on 1 March.

I was in such a state with my eldest. I sat catatonic in a chair from 6pm until just after midnight on 1 March waiting for that offer email.

Just want to know now tbh. Have taken a bit of a punt on a weaker on paper school for dd2 coz it's tiny (90 intake and usually undersubscribed) and has lots of clubs great sports facilities and if she manages to make friends it will be amazing for her.
2nd choice we'll only get in on appeal, but very strong chance if we decide to & 3rd choice is dd1s school which is fantastic but not sure about all girls for dd2.
4th is a 3 minute walk but hopefully it doesn't get that far.
Roll on 5pm on Monday.

This is seriously horrible.

It’s definitely biting around us. Combined with net migration due to both Covid and Brexit, some of the stat changes are staggering. The catholic school (our second choice) too absolutely no non-catholics in living memory until about 4/5 years ago. Last year it was 50, which is a third of the cohort. The CoE school (our first choice) always had an allocation of 20 community places, with a last distance on them of around 700m. Last year, they took 80 on community places, and were, for the first time ever, actually undersubscribed.

On paper, we should be a shoo-in, but I’m still on tenterhooks!

I’m feeling nervous after a chat with our daughter today. Obviously, we are all really hoping she gets her first choice (she had to sit an entrance exam for it and got four marks higher than the lowest mark they accepted last year) , but she is having a wobble about her second choice now (another entry exam application she excelled at) as she won’t really know anyone going there. Lots of children she knows will be going to her third choice, a local (non exam entry school, just our local school). A worry of mine is her second choice is becoming a Harris academy from September, something that we weren’t aware of when the application was done in October. I’ve heard good and bad things about Harris. I just don’t know how I feel about it.

My question is if she does get her second choice how difficult would it likely to be to request that she goes to her third choice instead? She is quite an anxious child and ultimately we just want her to be happy and settled. Hopefully it’s just nerves and lots of children and parents alike are feeling it right now but I just want to be prepared for the fallout if she doesn’t get her first choice where she wants to go.

Sorry if that was really waffly.

Yeap my now 18 didn't get any we did the appeal he got the school in end

Same my son's in yr 10 so my son will get it he's sister will be in same boat come sept as she's yr 5 now

Obviously all areas are different - we are Greater London - but one of things that makes me less nervous this time round is for dd1 it seemed like a critical decision whereas 4 years later there is so much movement around our local secondary schools it doesn't seem like a forever decision.
Anecdotal only but one of dd1s primary cohort had 1 school on offer day, went to a different school for transition day and started at a 3rd school in Sept. (Parents only put 1 choice on form and they lived way too far away)

I’m not looking forward to tomorrow. My DD decided she wanted to go to the same school as her sister which is ideal. We will get in & it’s a good school. A few weeks ago she changed her mind so now I feel a bit sad for her. Think we will put her on the waitlist for the other school if she wants and just see what happens. I was hoping it would be easier second time around! Good luck everyone.

@LancreWowhawk I work in education & the demographic changes are quite staggering tbh & very worrying for schools due to the funding model.
Even just looking at how far the furthest distance offers have changed is crazy.

Though I remember the anxiety for my eldest, good luck!

I’m really anxious. Ds 1st choice is where all his friends are going, but it’s always been very oversubscribed and we would be outside the cut off distance.

However for the pre ious two years we were within 100-500 metres so would have got a place.

With the slight birth rate drop in 2014/15, do you think we are in with a decent chance?

@Justpink13 I asked AI about birth rate and yes it's a low birth rate year but unfortunately for us locally it's higher than average, so local variation. Good luck from me.

I have been tracking the last distances and proportions of offers within each criteria for our local schools (well, the ones that we're interested in) more or less since DD was born - or at least, ever since I realised that me being a heathen atheist was potentially going to curtail our options given the number of local faith schools.

The thing that amazes me isn't just the degree to which admissions have changed, it's the speed at which it has happened. DD's third choice never filled all their places, but last year they were almost 50% under-allocated. That has to put their future at risk, and that alone is a reason that I hope we get one of the first two!

We are in an area where there was a massive school building programme about 10 years ago - almost all the primaries expanded, DD's went from 2 form entry to 4 form entry, and three new secondaries were built within easy travelling distance of our house. Now they can't fill the places. DD's current school is back down to 3 form entry again.

I can see why you are worried, it just isn't financially sustainable

Yes it’s happened very quickly & definitely wasn’t forecast to be so quick. It was predicted covid would lead to a baby boom! My eldest lost almost half their (primary) class during covid because so many families left London. Housing has become so expensive particularly in inner London. London is the only major city in the UK getting older which is crazy really.

The sad thing is parents think “oh that school has 20 dc per class instead of 30 which is a positive”. Because of the funding model it isn’t, you want a full school because it means more money in general.

I do think the very best state secondaries will remain popular but it’s the ones underneath that will start to decline as the numbers reduce & the funds.

https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/news-and-press-releases/2026/sharp-decline-london-pupil-numbers-puts-school-standards-risk

Yes. Im in london (london borough of ealing) , I put down 4 choices. Tomorrow is an exciting and anxious day. Does anyone know exactly what time the emails will come through?

5pm onwards in London.

Northwest (Cheshire) here but also anxiously waiting! 3 choices for us but DD has her heart set on our first choice. We're very close, not even a half mile away but we're both still fretting!