Schools
Over 90% of pupils in Walsall offered a secondary school place of their choice
Published on
Today is an important day for thousands of Year 6 children in Walsall who will find out which secondary school has offered them a place for September 2026.
Parents and carers can see where their child has been offered a place on the Walsall Council school admissions portal: https://go.walsall.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions
94% of pupils in Walsall have been offered a secondary school of their choice, and a total of 3,899 applications were received on time.
3038 of those applications (77.9%) received their first preference, 393 (10.1%) their second preference and 146 (3.7%) their third preference.
Every child who submitted their application on time has been offered a place at a secondary school for September 2026. Parents and carers can choose up to five school preferences, and 3676 children received an offer of a place at one of their preferred schools.
“ Today is a really important day for children and their families, and we’re delighted to have been able to offer more than 90% of them a place at a school they hoped for. We continue to encourage parents and carers to submit applications on time and to use all five preferences to avoid disappointment, and it’s been great to see families responding so positively to this advice.
In 2025, 91% of our schools were judged ‘Good’ or better by Ofsted - higher than the national average - and we are incredibly proud of this. It reflects the hard work happening across Walsall and gives families confidence that children are receiving a high quality, well rounded education in our borough.
I want to extend a sincere thank you to all our schools for their dedication, their partnership, and their willingness to go above and beyond for children. And to every young person starting their secondary journey in September 2026, I wish you all the confidence and success as you take this next step. “
There were 223 (5.7%) children who were allocated a place at a school which wasn’t one of their preferred options. Of these, 94 families had only included one preference on their application form.
The school application process in Walsall is entirely online, meaning parents can view their results on school offer day by logging into Walsall Council’s School Admissions Portal. The council will also send emails to the families of all those children who submitted on time applications today to confirm their school allocation.
Secondary school applications for September 2027 will open later this year and will give families a choice to select the new secondary school in Walsall as a preference. The school is one of sixteen new schools in England being funded and delivered by central government. Windsor Academy Trust have been selected as the education partner to deliver the school, and its first intake is planned for September 2027. More information about the new secondary school can be found here: https://go.walsall.gov.uk/newsroom/government-fund-new-ps50m-secondary-school-walsall
-ENDS-
Notes to editor
- Link to the school admissions portal: https://go.walsall.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions
- Walsall Council allows up to five preferences for secondary schools applications
- Secondary school offer numbers and percentages (as of 2 March 2026) in the table below shows the outcomes from the 2026 secondary admission rounds. Please note that this data is a snapshot of the position at the time the offers were made on 2 March 2026 and is subject to change throughout the admission round.
The data relates to on-time applications from Walsall residents.
| September 2026 data | ||
| Offers | %* | |
| Offered 1st preference | 3038 | 77.9 |
| Offered 2nd preference | 393 | 10.1 |
| Offered 3rd preference | 146 | 3.7 |
| Offered one of their top three preferences | 3577 | 91.7 |
| Offered a preference | 3676 | 94.3 |
| Not offered preference school and allocated an alternative | 223 | 5.7 |
| Total Walsall on-time applications | 3899 | |
*- % rounding factor – may not add up to 100%
N.B – These figures do not include children with an Education, Health & Care Place (EHCP) for specialist settings, or that have received an offer at a Specialist Resource Provision (SRP), nor does it account for late applications.
