Families are given three choices as to which primary school they would like to send their child, but naturally parents hope to secure their first choice place.
Whilst many parents do secure their first choice school, there are always a significant number of schools which are oversubscribed when it comes to places wanted and spaces available.
With primary school place applications set to open on Monday (September 29) we’ve been looking at the Department for Education data for the city’s primary schools and looking at which schools for the latest (September 2025) intake of pupils had more first choice requests than places available.
Checkout the hardest 17 primary schools to get into for the current academic year (2025/26).
Any schools not listed means they had sufficient spaces to accommodate first choice requests.
5. Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy
58 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 45 first choice offers were given, meaning a success rate of 77.59%. Photo: Google
6. Hetton Lyons Primary School
73 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 59 first choice offers were given, meaning a success rate of 80.82%. Photograph: Google Photo: Google
7. St Anne's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School
36 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 30 first choice offers were given, meaning a success rate of 83.33%. Photograph: Google Photo: Google Maps
8. Hylton Castle Primary School
35 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 30 first choice offers were given, meaning a success rate of 85.71%. Photo: Picture by Kevin Brady