School admissions - where do pupils live?

Go to each English state school's page to find out where its pupils come from and see its

'Real' Catchment Area Map

The catchment area map explained

This map, of a well-known London state school, shows:

• A green dot: the school
• Red dots: census areas (about 100 households) where pupils who joined the school in September 2007 came from (2008 data will be available in early 2009)
• Purple dots: census areas where pupils who joined the school in 2005 and 2006 came from

The standard catchment area pattern, as in the example above, has a well-defined central core surrounded by outlying dots. These outliers usually represent siblings - children whose parents have moved out of the catchment but who still get a place because they have a brother or sister at the school. Other common causes of outliers are children admitted to the school for special reasons (special educational needs etc) or selection on academic or religious grounds.

Where do I find catchment area maps?

The catchment area maps for each English state school appear on the school's own page on this site. You can zoom in or out ot get the scale that you want. Use school name search to find a specific school or Search for schools to locate schools that fit your criteria.

Does living in the school catchment area guarantee a school place?

Absolutely not. DO NOT RELY ON THIS MAP FOR MAKING DECISIONS. ALWAYS CONSULT THE SCHOOL ITSELF AND/OR THE LOCAL AUTHORITY. If requested, they should give you a copy of the current criteria for admission to the school and explain how that will be applied. School Catchment rules change regularly and, even when they are stable, the way that the detailed rules operate may lead to severe fluctuations from year to year.

If you are a subscriber ( subscriptions from as little as £9.99) you can also look at catchment areas the other way round: Which schools are you in-catchment for all you need is an English postcode!

NB

∗∗∗Some Mac users find Catchment Area Maps work better if they change their web browser from Safari to Firefox∗∗∗