A new school year began last month and whilst National Offer Day may feel like a long time ago, it was a tense time for many families and unfortunately not all children received the school allocation they had wished for.
According to Lancashire County Council, 98 per cent of children were awarded their first-choice primary school for the 2026/2027 academic year but that meant 2 per cent were left disappointed.
The latest available DfE figures show which Lancashire secondary schools were the hardest to get into in September 2026 and we gathered the 19 toughest schools across the county in our previous story here.
Below however, we have turned our attention to just the schools in East Lancashire so take a look at the 15 hardest secondary schools to get into across that patch next.
We have ordered these schools in ascending order so that the hardest secondary schools feature last.
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9. Shuttleworth College (no.8)
217 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 188 first choice offers were handed out which is a success rate of 86.64% | Google Maps
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10. All Saints' Roman Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy (no. 7)
107 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 90 first choice offers were handed out which is a success rate of 84.11% | Google Maps
11. Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (no. 6)
219 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 172 first choice offers were handed out which is a success rate of 78.54% | Google Maps
12. Alder Grange School (no. 5)
177 pupils put this school as their first choice but only 139 first choice offers were handed out which is a success rate of 78.53% | Google Maps