How do I check my school catchment area by postcode?

Use the postcode search on this page: it shows the schools near your address, published catchment boundaries where your council releases them, and each school’s last distance offered — the real radius that got a place in the latest allocation round. For the official line, every council also runs its own lookup (we link each school’s council checker from its profile).

What is a "last distance offered" and why does it matter more than the catchment line?

When a school is oversubscribed, the council offers places in priority order and the final offer’s home-to-school distance becomes that year’s effective cut-off. If you live at 900m and last year’s final offer went to 650m, the drawn catchment is largely irrelevant to your chances. We publish these cut-offs for thousands of English schools, updated for the September 2026 round where councils have released data.

Are catchment areas the same as priority admission areas?

Councils use different names — catchment, priority admission area, designated area, zone — for broadly the same idea: a defined area whose residents get admissions priority. The admission arrangements for each school (published every year) state exactly how the area is used in the oversubscription criteria.

Do catchment areas apply to academies and faith schools?

Academies and voluntary-aided schools set their own admissions criteria — some use a catchment, many use distance only, and faith schools add attendance or baptism criteria. Never assume the council-wide catchment logic applies; check the individual school’s arrangements (we surface these on school profiles where published).

How accurate are school catchment maps?

Where we display a boundary, it comes from the council’s own published data, with the source and date shown. Where a council publishes no polygon (most English urban councils), no map can honestly show a "catchment" — that is when the last-distance-offered data is the meaningful signal.

Can I use a relative’s address to get into catchment?

No — councils require your child’s genuine main residence at the time of application and routinely investigate. Fraudulent applications lead to withdrawn offers, sometimes after the school year has started.

School Atlas

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School Catchment Area Checker

Type a postcode, see the schools that serve that address — with real catchment boundaries where councils publish them, and the last distance offeredwhere they don’t. That second number is the one that actually decides places.

AI-drafted, human-reviewed

Check your catchment now

Search by postcode to see nearby schools, catchment boundaries where published, and the distances that got places in the latest round.

Search results open with filters matching this guide

Key facts

Living in catchment does NOT guarantee a place anywhere in the UK except (by default) Scotland
Most English councils publish no catchment map — schools admit by distance, and the effective cut-off moves every year
The "last distance offered" is the real cut-off: the home-to-school distance of the final offer in the latest allocation round
Wales and Scotland define formal catchments for every address; NI has no catchment system at all
Estate-agent catchment claims are marketing — verify with official data before paying an address premium

How catchment checking works in each nation

England

Most English councils do NOT publish catchment maps — the majority of schools admit by straight-line or walking distance from the school gate, with priority bands (siblings, faith, medical) applied first. Where a council does publish formal catchment polygons (common in county areas like Surrey, Hampshire and Somerset), living inside the line usually gives priority rather than a guarantee.

Search your postcode below to see nearby schools, published catchment boundaries where they exist, and each school’s last distance offered — the radius that actually got a place in the most recent allocation round.

Wales

Welsh councils define formal catchment areas for both English-medium and Welsh-medium schools, and living in-catchment carries significant admissions priority. Cardiff, Swansea and most other councils publish catchment maps or postcode lookup tools.

Our map shows published Welsh catchment boundaries where councils release them, alongside each school’s allocation data where published.

Scotland

Every Scottish home address sits inside a catchment for a denominational and a non-denominational school — your child has a default place at the catchment school. Going elsewhere means a placing request, which councils can refuse when the year group is full.

Search your postcode to find your catchment schools, and see our guide to placing requests for choosing a different school.

Northern Ireland

NI has no formal catchment system. Each school sets its own admissions criteria — typically prioritising feeder primaries, siblings, and proximity. Distance still matters in oversubscription tie-breaks, but there is no line on a map.

Search your postcode to compare nearby schools and their admissions criteria where published.

Scotland-specific? See our full guide to Scottish catchments and placing requests. For how distance, siblings and faith criteria interact, read Catchment Areas & Transport.

The number that matters: last distance offered

For oversubscribed schools, the drawn boundary tells you less than the cut-off distance — how far from the gate the final successful offer lived. Councils publish this after each allocation round, and it moves with demand: a bulge year shrinks it, a new housing estate shifts it street by street.

We hold last-distance-offered data for thousands of English schools — including fresh September 2026 rounds for counties like Surrey, Hampshire and Hertfordshire — shown on each school’s profile in the Admissions tab, with multi-year trends for Pro members.

Moving house for a school? Check the cut-off trend, not one year — a single generous year can mask a tightening pattern. Our guide to moving house for a school place covers timing, evidence rules and the address checks councils run.

Four catchment myths that cost families places

“Living in the catchment guarantees a place”

It does not, anywhere in the UK except (by default) Scotland. In England and Wales, in-catchment children can and do miss out when a school is oversubscribed — priority order and distance decide who gets in. In heavily oversubscribed areas the effective cut-off can be a few hundred metres.

“Catchment areas are fixed”

Councils redraw catchment boundaries as populations shift and schools open or close, and the EFFECTIVE catchment (the last distance offered) moves every single year with demand. A street that got in comfortably three years ago can miss out this year.

“The school next door is "my catchment school"”

Not necessarily. Catchment lines follow planning logic, not proximity — some addresses are catchment to a school further away than their nearest one. Always check the council’s own definition rather than assuming.

“Estate agents’ "in catchment for X" claims are reliable”

Treat listing claims as marketing. Verify with the council’s tool or official allocation data before paying a premium for an address — the Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints about misleading catchment claims.

Catchment checker FAQs

Catchment boundaries shown on School Atlas come from each council’s published data with source and date attached; last-distance-offered figures come from council allocation publications and DfE data. Where a council publishes neither, we say so rather than guessing. Admissions arrangements change every year — always verify with the council before an application or a house move. Last reviewed August 2026.

Was this guide helpful?

School Catchment Area Checker

AI-drafted, human-reviewed

Check your catchment now

Search by postcode to see nearby schools, catchment boundaries where published, and the distances that got places in the latest round.

Search results open with filters matching this guide

Key facts

Living in catchment does NOT guarantee a place anywhere in the UK except (by default) Scotland
Most English councils publish no catchment map — schools admit by distance, and the effective cut-off moves every year
The "last distance offered" is the real cut-off: the home-to-school distance of the final offer in the latest allocation round
Wales and Scotland define formal catchments for every address; NI has no catchment system at all
Estate-agent catchment claims are marketing — verify with official data before paying an address premium

How catchment checking works in each nation

England

Wales

Our map shows published Welsh catchment boundaries where councils release them, alongside each school’s allocation data where published.

Scotland

Search your postcode to find your catchment schools, and see our guide to placing requests for choosing a different school.

Northern Ireland

Search your postcode to compare nearby schools and their admissions criteria where published.

Scotland-specific? See our full guide to Scottish catchments and placing requests. For how distance, siblings and faith criteria interact, read Catchment Areas & Transport.

The number that matters: last distance offered

Four catchment myths that cost families places

“Living in the catchment guarantees a place”

“Catchment areas are fixed”

“The school next door is "my catchment school"”

“Estate agents’ "in catchment for X" claims are reliable”

Catchment checker FAQs

Was this guide helpful?

School Catchment Area Checker

Check your catchment now

How catchment checking works in each nation

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

The number that matters: last distance offered

Four catchment myths that cost families places

Catchment checker FAQs

Related guides

School Catchment Area Checker

Check your catchment now

How catchment checking works in each nation

England

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

The number that matters: last distance offered

Four catchment myths that cost families places

Catchment checker FAQs

Related guides