Today families across Brighton & Hove will be receiving offers for secondary school places for the 2026/27 academic year.
More than 83% of families that applied for a secondary school place in Brighton & Hove for September 2026 have been offered their first preference school, up from 79.7% in the previous year.
All pupils living in a dual school catchment area who expressed a preference for both catchment schools have been offered their catchment area school or a higher preference. In addition 49 pupils were offered a place at a preferred school as a result of the new ‘open admissions’ category and 51 children obtained a place as a result of the Free School Meal priority, also recently introduced.
The recent changes to catchments and admissions saw a number of families within dual-catchment areas choosing schools outside of their catchment as a first preference. PACA, Patcham, Longhill and BACA all received a number of first preferences from families living within central dual-catchment areas.
In 2024 and 2025, we agreed changes to our secondary school admission arrangements. These changes were introduced to address falling pupil numbers in Brighton & Hove, improve equality and fairness across the city’s schools and give greater equity of choice.
We introduced an open admissions criterion that reserves up to 5% of places in each of the city’s community secondary schools for pupils who live in single-school catchment areas. This aims to create more equity of access to education to pupils across the city.
While 67 pupils were placed using the open admissions category, 49 were offered a place at an oversubscribed school as a result of the open admissions criterion, as the remaining places were at schools that were not oversubscribed at that point.
We also introduced a policy giving pupils eligible for free school meals priority when applying for secondary school in Brighton & Hove, up to the city average (30% for 2025). This policy aims to improve educational inequality across the city.
For September 2026, 97 pupils were placed under the Free School Meals category, with 51 pupils securing a place as a result of the free school meals priority (as the remaining places were at schools that were not oversubscribed at that point).
Councillor Jacob Taylor, Deputy Leader of the Council, said: “We know that national offer day can be an anxious time for many families.
“We’re pleased to see that 83% of families received their first preference school – an increase from last year – and to see that families are using the Free School Meal and Open Admissions criteria. We also acknowledge that every year there will be some families that are disappointed not to get their first preference.
“It has also been notable to see a changing picture of preferences – with a number of families within dual-catchment areas choosing schools outside of their catchment as a first preference. PACA, Patcham, Longhill and BACA all received a number of first preferences from families living within central dual-catchment areas.
“We will be analysing the impact of our new admissions policies in the coming months and years.”
Councillor Bella Sankey, Leader of the Council, said: “This is an important day for families, as they receive news on which secondary school their children will be attending. It’s also an important step forward for the city – as our policies to create a fairer school system with more choice for all families, coming into effect. It’s fantastic to see more families receiving their first preference school – increasing opportunity for all areas of the city.”
If parents are unhappy with the school place they’ve been offered, they can appeal a school place decision. The deadline for submitting an appeal is Friday 27 March 2026.
The council recommends that parents should still accept the place their child has been offered. This will not affect their appeal, and will guarantee their child has a school place if your appeal is unsuccessful.
Appeal panels are independent of the council. The council has a legal duty to put into effect whatever decisions appeals panels make.
The following schools still have available space:
The council's school admissions team can be contacted for advice via email at schooladmissions@brighton-hove.gov.uk.