How school catchment areas work in England

What a catchment area actually is

A catchment area is the geographic zone within which a school gives priority to applicants. It's not a guarantee of a place — it's a tiebreaker. When a school is oversubscribed (more applicants than places), it uses its admissions criteria to decide who gets in. Distance from the school — or residence within a defined catchment — is typically the final tiebreaker after higher-priority criteria like looked-after children and siblings.

The term “catchment area” is used loosely. Some schools define a fixed geographic boundary. Others use a straight-line distance from the school — accepting children up to a certain distance until places run out. Both are common, and they work differently.

Fixed boundary catchments

Some schools — particularly in areas with established community schools — define a fixed catchment boundary. If you live inside it, you get priority. If you live outside it, you don't, regardless of how close you are to the school.

Fixed boundaries are set by the local authority or the school itself, and they can change. A school that expands or contracts its intake, or whose popularity shifts, may adjust its boundary accordingly.

Distance-based admissions

More common — especially for academies and schools without a fixed boundary — is distance-based admissions. The school admits children in order of priority, with distance as the final tiebreaker. Every year, the furthest distance at which a child was offered a place is published by the local authority.

This “last distance offered” figure is the one that matters. If a school offered places to children within 800 metres last year, being 850 metres away means you're outside the effective catchment — even if there's no formal boundary. And crucially, this figure changes every year based on how many siblings and looked-after children apply.

Why catchments shift year to year

The effective catchment of a distance-based school changes every year because it depends on who applies. In a year with a large cohort of siblings — children whose older siblings already attend — fewer distance places are available, and the last distance offered shrinks. In a lighter year, it expands.

This means a property that was comfortably inside the effective catchment in 2023 may not be in 2026. Local authorities publish historical admission data, but past performance is not a guarantee of future access.

The admissions criteria order

Most state schools in England use a standard priority order for oversubscribed places:

1. Looked-after children and previously looked-after children — highest priority, required by law
2. Children with an EHCP naming the school — an Education, Health and Care Plan that specifies the school
3. Siblings — children with a brother or sister already attending. This takes up a significant portion of places at popular schools
4. Medical or social need — where there is a specific professional reason for the child to attend that school
5. Catchment area or distance — the geographic tiebreaker, applied last

At oversubscribed schools, siblings can account for 30–50% of the intake. This compresses the number of open places available on distance, which is why the effective catchment can be surprisingly small.

How to check schools near any property

Search any address on movegrid to see the schools closest to that property, their Ofsted ratings, and type. For catchment-specific information, you'll need to go a step further:

• GOV.UK school finder — find.education.gov.uk lets you search by postcode and shows each school's admissions policy and last-year distance data
• Local authority admissions pages — each council publishes its composite prospectus annually, including the last distance offered for every school
• Contact the school directly — the admissions office can tell you whether a specific address falls within their catchment or likely distance threshold

What to ask before you buy

• What was the last distance offered for the relevant school in each of the last three years?
• Is the school's catchment fixed or distance-based?
• How many sibling places were offered last year?
• Is the school's Ofsted rating current — when was the last inspection?
• Are there any planned changes to the school's size, structure, or admissions policy?