Oldham’s most oversubscribed secondary schools have been revealed.
The Department of Education has released the latest data on admissions for the next academic year following the nation school offer day in March.
Data includes figures for the total number of places offered, as well as the number of times the school was selected as first preferences.
The Oldham Times has used these figures to calculate the difference between the number of places offered and the top choice applications.
Of the 14 secondary schools in Oldham, four were oversubscribed, which is up slightly on the previous year, when three schools had more first place applications than places.
The Blue Coat School remains the borough’s most oversubscribed school . For the 2026/27 academic year, the school received 611 first choice applications and offered a total of 232 places, according to the government data.
This means that almost 38 per cent of first choice applications were successful.
The Blue Coat School has been contacted for comment.
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Oversubscription figures are also high for the Brian Clarke Church of England Academy, which received 458 top choice applications and handed out a total of 224 places for the 2026/27 academic year.
The other two oversubscribed schools were Crompton House and North Chadderton, however the gap between number of places offered and first preference choices in these cases were much smaller.
Crompton House was selected as top choice 333 times and a total of 296 places were offered.
At North Chadderton, 288 pupils selected the school as their first choices and a total of 262 places were offered.
At the other end of the scale, E-ACT the Oldham Academy North received 83 first choice applications and offered a total of 232 places.
E-ACT Oldham Academy North has been contacted for comment.
The Department of Education has reported that the first preference rate for secondary schools nationally was 83.6 per cent, which is up slightly from 2025 when this figure was 83.5 per cent.
