NEW figures have revealed the high demand for the limited number of places across Worcestershire schools.
Figures from Worcestershire County Council have shown which high schools in the county are the most oversubscribed.
Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College in Worcester topped the list of oversubscribed schools, turning away 75 students—35.7 per cent more than its available places.
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The Bewdley School & Sixth Form Centre followed closely, rejecting 59 applicants and exceeding its admissions limit by 32.8 per cent.
Hanley Castle High School was third, with 51 pupils turned away—28.3 per cent above capacity.
Overall, around 19 high schools in Worcestershire were forced to turn pupils away out of the county’s 32 publicly funded establishments.
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Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College has taken the top spot across all of Worcestershire and Worcester – but coming in at second was Tudor Grange Academy which exceeded its admission rate by 21.90%.
Nunnery Wood High School was third, having to turn away 58 pupils, which would have made it 19.3 per cent above capacity.
A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: “Some schools are oversubscribed because they are particularly popular with parents and receive more applications than there are places available.
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“This year, demand for secondary school places in Worcester was higher due to a larger transfer cohort.
“Families making applications for Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College may be residing in areas including Droitwich, Malvern, or Pershore, as they attend feeder schools in those areas.
“It is important to note that the refusal figures do not represent individual children, as families can apply for up to three schools and a child may therefore be refused a place at more than one preferred school.”
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We have compiled a full list of the oversubscribed high schools in the area and ranked them from most in demand to least.
This was achieved by calculating the number of on-time applicants that were refused at each high school and comparing it to the published admission number.
We then found the percentage of people turned away in comparison to the number of places available.
Here is the list of Worcestershire’s most oversubscribed schools:
Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College – 35.71% (75 pupils turned away)
The Bewdley School & Sixth Form Centre – 32.78% (59 pupils turned away)
Hanley Castle High School – 28.33% (51 pupils turned away)
Woodrush High School – 23.33% (42pupils turned away)
Wolverley CE Secondary School – 22.22% (40 pupils turned away)
Tudor Grange Academy Worcester – 21.90% (46 pupils turned away)
South Bromsgrove High – 19.70% (66 pupils turned away)
The Chantry School – 19.43% (34 pupils turned away)
Nunnery Wood High School – 19.33% (58 pupils turned away)
St Augustine’s Catholic High – 18.30 (43 pupils turned away)
Bishop Perowne CE College – 17.92% (43 pupils turned away)
Hagley Catholic High School – 16.32% (31 pupils turned away)
Ridgeway Academy (Year 7) – 10.19% (11 pupils turned away)
Pershore High (Year 7) – 10.00% (9 pupils turned away)
Haybridge High School – 9.52% (20 pupils turned away)
Arrow Vale High School – 5.36% (12 pupils turned away)
Tenbury High Ormiston Academy – 4.21% (4 pupils turned away)
Prince Henry’s High School – 3.17% (10 pupils turned away)
