How can I find a school catchment area?

[FlorentinesandLu]

Do I have to join one of those websites and pay? The local council’s website doesn’t show it. Am I missing something?

Do you mean a fixed priority admissions area, or just the distance in which children are normally admitted?

The distance please. Thank you

Have you tried the county council rather than local council website? That’s where I can access the information (Surrey). The individual school websites also have the info buried in them.

If your local council doesn’t show catchment areas- check Rightmove, they will often show school catchment areas- it’s likely admissions are based on home to school distance.

home to school distance does what it says on the tin- the 30 children living closest will be offered places. Catchment priority is given to those living in catchment, so even if you live across the road from a school, if you’re not on catchment other children who are will be offered a place first.

london for example has no catchments, it’s all distance.

check the LA admissions policy

If admission is distance based, there should be an application pack which will have recent years figures on how far way the last child admitted lives.

this will change every year, but it should give you an idea if you stand a reasonable chance or not.

Catchments = priority admissions area and map/detailed description will be part of the admissions information.

Living within catchment may not in itself be enough, if there are more DC living in it than there are available places.

So everyone needs to also find out the admissions footprint (ie the area within which DC, by category, got a place)

Many councils publish this - look for "greatest distance offered"

If not email both the LA and each school you are interested in and ask

It might also be worth checking whether the distance is measured by safe walking route or as the crow flies. Both are permissible, but they need to state which one they are using (can make a big difference if eg there's a river to cross)

Check the schools websites - look for a section called ‘admissions’ and the schools should show the categories by which they prioritise applications.
Your county council may also publish an admissions booklet online which shows the distance data for last years applications.