How do school catchment areas work, and will we get in?
A catchment or priority admission area is a geographic zone some schools use as one step in their published order of priority. It is not a guarantee. Where a school is oversubscribed, places are allocated down the priority order — looked-after children, medical or social need, siblings, then distance — and the effective cut-off can be far shorter than the printed catchment.
Catchment is a rule, not a boundary on the ground
Many community primary schools have no catchment at all and admit purely by distance from the school. Others publish a named area. Faith schools frequently use parish or worship criteria ahead of distance. Each school's own admission arrangements are the authoritative document, and they are republished every year.
Last year's furthest offered distance is the honest number
Councils publish, for each oversubscribed school, the distance of the last child offered a place on National Offer Day. Compare your straight-line distance from home to that figure across two or three years. Inside it comfortably in every year is a strong position; hovering near it is a coin toss; well outside it means treat the school as an aspiration and name a realistic school elsewhere on the form.
The figure moves year to year with the size of the local birth cohort, new housing and sibling numbers in that intake, so never rely on a single year.
Moving house for a school place
Councils apply address rules strictly and ask for evidence such as a tenancy agreement or completed purchase, often with a council tax record. Short-term lets taken solely to gain a place are investigated and offers can be withdrawn. Check your council's deadline for address changes before you commit to anything.
Related questions
Does living in the catchment guarantee a place?
No. Catchment sits inside a published order of priority. In an oversubscribed year, children higher in that order — looked-after children, those with medical or social need, and siblings — are placed first, and distance decides the remainder.
How do I find my school's catchment map?
Where one exists, the council publishes it, often as an interactive map or in the admissions booklet. Many councils publish no map at all because the school admits by distance rather than by area.
Do siblings always get a place?
Sibling priority sits above distance at most schools, but it is not absolute: it usually requires the older child to still be on roll when the younger one starts, and it ranks below looked-after children and social or medical need.
Read next
Compare your own shortlist
SpotWise scores the schools near you against what matters to your child, using published UK school data.
See plans