Across England, 8% of primary school applicants and 17% of secondary school applicants did not get a place at their first choice school for 2022/2023, affecting nearly 150,000 children in total.
Inner London was found to have the hardest secondary schools to get into in the country, with 30% of children not getting their first choice secondary school, whilst the North West had 15% not get their first secondary chool choice.
In Lancashire, 66 secondary schools made the oversubscribed list, and 28 of these were in Preston, Chorley and South Ribble.
How competitive is it to get into your secondary school? Here we reveal which secondary schools in Preston, Chorley and South Ribble are the hardest to get into, ranked from highest to lowest.
All the information is from Department of Education data released in June, which you can download here.
5. Our Lady's Catholic High School (ranked 5th)
Our Lady's Catholic High School had 248 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 174 of these were offered places. This means 74 pupils did not get a place. Photo: Google Maps
6. St Michael's Church of England High School (ranked 7th)
St Michael's Church of England High School had 306 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 219 of these were offered places. This means 87 pupils did not get a place. Photo: Google Maps
7. Archbishop Temple School Church of England High School (ranked 8th)
Archbishop Temple School Church of England High School had 181 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 130 of these were offered places. This means 51 pupils did not get a place. Photo: NW
8. Balshaw's Church of England High School (ranked 11th)
Balshaw's Church of England High School had 228 applicants put the school as a first preference but only 165 of these were offered places. This means 63 pupils did not get a place. Photo: Google Maps