Greater Manchester's most sought after schools which are the toughest to get your kids into

Parents and guardians want their kids to get their best education possible, and that can mean a fight for a spot at the most popular schools. With competition fierce and limited places available, not all primary and secondary pupils are able to land a place at their 'first choice'.

As the new school term is now underway, and applications for next year’s places are now open, official data from the Department of Education has revealed which primary and secondary schools are the most oversubscribed across Greater Manchester, indicating the 'race for a place' at the region's most sought-after schools.

According to the data, more secondary schools are more oversubscribed than ever before, with many pupils struggling to get into their preferred school. More than six in 10 pupils didn’t get their first choice of a place at William Hulme's Grammar School - which has been named as the Greater Manchester school that's the toughest to get into.

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The all-through school, which covers ages three to 18, had 376 parents put the school as their first choice of secondary in the last round of applications, with only 147 being offered a place for this school year - just 39 percent.

The school is also difficult for younger pupils to get into - with fewer than two thirds of the 91 parents who put it down as their first choice of primary school being offered a place. As many of the children going into Year 7 will be carrying on from Year 6, this makes offers for a new place particularly competitive.

William Hulme's Grammar School now has a new principal, Mrs Kate Heaton, who has taken over from former principal Peter Mulholland this