The 13 most difficult state secondary schools to get into across Northamptonshire - with applications due soon

The application deadline for a place at a local state secondary school is now mere weeks away.

But even if parents of next year’s new starters believe they have picked out the perfect school for their child, they may face more competition than expected. Northamptonshire in particular is a highly competitive county, with some popular local schools turning away more than half of all pupils who had selected it as their first choice.

This year’s applications close on October 31. Although families can still apply after that date, their child may have a lower chance of landing an offer from their preferred school. The outcome will be revealed on national offers day - which will fall on March 2 next year.

Just like with primary schools, the odds of your child getting into the school you’d most like are generally pretty good. But it’s worth remembering that nationwide, 83.5% of pupils got an offer from their first choice of secondary school for the current 2025/26 school year, meaning that about 3 in every 20 missed out.

With this in mind, we’ve taken a look at the Department of Education’s latest data on schools across the North and West Northamptonshire council areas, comparing how many parents put each one down as their number one option, with how many first-choice offers each school actually sent out.

Here were Northamptonshire’s toughest secondaries to get into this year: