The following table shows the number of maintained (a) primary schools designated as rural in 2007 and 2008 and (b) secondary schools currently defined as rural in each county in England.
Rural primary schools were first designated in 2007 by a special Order. The Order was updated in 2008 when the Department adopted the common classification system developed by the Office of National Statistics. We do not have a record of schools defined as rural prior to 2007.
Rural secondary schools are not designated. They are identified by the classification on the Department's register of schools. Once the register has been updated we do not retain the historic data and we are only able to provide the current number of secondary schools defined as rural.
2007 2008 2009 Barnet 1 0 0 Barnsley 10 19 2 Bath and NE Somerset 19 23 1 Bedfordshire 78 79 17 Blackburn with Darwin 4 5 0 Blackpool 1 0 0 Bolton 3 4 1 Bracknell Forest 2 2 0 Bradford 18 18 2 Bromley 3 3 1 Buckinghamshire 91 89 5 Bury 2 3 0 Calderdale 28 28 1 Cambridgeshire 131 124 15 Cheshire 104 100 5 Cornwall 169 178 15 Cumbria 181 188 19 Darlington 5 5 1 Derbyshire 173 174 12 Devon 231 230 17 Doncaster 18 18 2 Dorset 82 84 16 Durham 119 118 11 East Riding of Yorkshire 88 90 8 East Sussex 73 73 7 Enfield 1 1 0 Essex 163 170 11 Gateshead 9 8 1 Gloucestershire 124 122 12 Halton 3 3 0 Hampshire 130 131 10 Hartlepool 3 3 0 Herefordshire 61 62 8 Hertfordshire 82 82 5 Hillingdon 2 2 0 Isle of Wight 21 22 3 Isles of Scilly 1 1 0 Kent 189 184 10 Kingston-Upon-Hull 0 0 1 Kirklees 30 29 3 Lancashire 153 180 13 Leeds 15 21 2 Leicester, City of 1 1 0 Leicestershire 110 110 16 Lincolnshire 188 186 25 Medway 11 11 1 Milton Keynes 14 15 2 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1 1 0 Norfolk 227 247 27 North East Lincolnshire 4 4 1 North Lincolnshire 40 40 7 North Somerset 26 22 2 North Tyneside 4 4 1 North Yorkshire 233 244 21 Northamptonshire 118 130 13 Northumberland 83 89 25 Nottingham City 2 0 0 Nottinghamshire 111 107 11 Oldham 10 10 1 Oxfordshire 127 126 11 Peterborough 9 11 2 Redcar and Cleveland 17 16 3 Rochdale 1 1 1 Rotherham 16 15 1 Rutland 15 17 3 Sandwell 1 0 0 Sefton 1 1 0 Sheffield 3 3 1 Shropshire 99 103 12 Solihull 9 9 1 Somerset 155 154 18 South Gloucestershire 21 20 0 Southend-on-Sea 2 0 0 St Helens 6 6 1 Staffordshire 110 105 11 Stockport 1 2 0 Stockton-on-Tees 3 3 0 Stoke-on-Trent 1 0 1 Suffolk 144 147 26 Sunderland 1 1 0 Surrey 58 57 4 Swindon 11 13 2 Tameside 1 1 2 Telford And Wrekin 9 8 0 Thurrock 7 7 1 Torbay 1 1 0 Wakefield 28 28 2 Walsall 1 1 0 Warrington 17 17 2 Warwickshire 79 80 11 West Berkshire 38 38 4 West Sussex 87 86 6 Wigan 0 9 1 Wiltshire 139 132 11 Windsor and Maidenhead 11 11 2 Wirral 2 2 0 Wokingham 13 14 2 Worcestershire 93 91 10 York, City of 13 13 0 Total 5,154 5,246 542 1 Excludes academies