Overall Oxbridge
#481
5 ranked schools · +433 places vs Eng avg #914 of 1,984
Applications
85
Offers
24
Offer rate28.2%
+5.8 pts vs Eng avgEng avg 22.4%
Lancashire's county town and one of England's smaller designated cities, Lancaster carries a civic weight well beyond its population of around 52,000. Set on the River Lune a few miles inland from Morecambe Bay, the city's historic core clusters around the Roman fort established in the first century, the medieval castle that later served as a courthouse and gaol, and the Ashton Memorial rising above Williamson Park to the east. The Duchy of Lancaster still holds estates in the district.
Bowerham, spreading south from the university quarter, is among the most school-competitive postcodes in the city, while Scotforth has long drawn families seeking catchment addresses close to Lancaster's most sought-after secondary provision. Dolphinholme and Austwick lie further out into the Lune Valley, favoured by families willing to trade urban convenience for village schooling. The West Coast Main Line links the city to Preston in around thirty minutes and Manchester in just over an hour.
27
Primary
schools
9
Secondary
schools
1
All-through
schools
1
Post-16
colleges
3
Special
schools
3
Other
schools
Area Performance
Across 47 primary, secondary and sixth-form schools, state and independent. The average Find My School Inspection Score is 7.42/10, -0.03 vs England.
Find My School Inspection Band
Distribution across all Lancaster schools
Lancaster vs England distribution
National Rank
Across all ranked Lancaster schools
top 49% of 14,978
top 49% of 14,978
top 41% of 3,862
top 41% of 3,862
top 44% of 2,555
top 44% of 2,555
Overall Oxbridge
5 ranked schools · +433 places vs Eng avg #914 of 1,984
Applications
85
Offers
24
Oxford
3 ranked schools · -15 places vs Eng avg #253 of 1,198
Applications
44
Offers
6
Cambridge
5 ranked schools · +523 places vs Eng avg #773 of 1,881
Applications
41
Offers
18
2026
Lancaster
2026
Lancaster
2026
Lancaster
Local directory
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