England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
School catchment area map: what does yours actually mean?
A school catchment area map tells you where a council expects to draw pupils from. It does not tell you whether your child gets in. That is decided by the admission authority's oversubscription criteria, and in practice by how far the furthest offered place reached last year. This school catchment checker walks you to the right map and the right number.
Not a legal term
gov.uk's admissions guidance never defines a catchment area: it tells you to contact your council for the admission criteria
Distance, usually
where a school is oversubscribed the tie-break is normally home-to-school distance, which is why last year's furthest offer matters more than the map
One term minimum
the admission authority must keep a waiting list open for at least the first term of each school year
Question 1
Where do you live?
School admissions are devolved. The body you contact, and the guidance that binds it, differ across the four nations.
Email me this result
We will send you these figures and a link back to them. One email, nothing else unless you tick the box.
What this checks
- Which body publishes the catchment map and the admission criteria where you live
- Whether the school is its own admission authority or the council is
- What a published catchment area does and does not guarantee
- Why last year's furthest distance offered is the number that decides most places
- Waiting lists, and the right to stay on one after accepting elsewhere
- Based on gov.uk school admissions guidance, read on 15 August 2026
Catchment Checker is an independent information site operated by Ellul Solutions Ltd. It is not affiliated with Natural England, Defra, the Environment Agency, any local planning authority or any body named here, and nothing on it is planning, legal or ecological advice. Nutrient neutrality is a live and contested area: catchment boundaries, calculators, published guidance and the statutory framework all change, and figures here were read from gov.uk on 14 August 2026. Always confirm the current position for your site with the local planning authority and a suitably qualified consultant before relying on it.
Need this assessed for a specific site?
We will introduce you to an ecology or planning consultant who prepares nutrient budgets and habitats assessments in your catchment.
What decides a school place, in the order it actually applies
Last updated
A catchment area map is one input and rarely the deciding one. This is the order the decision is made in, and where the map sits in it.
Based on the gov.uk school admissions guidance read on 15 August 2026. We publish no distance figures because there is no national scale: the furthest distance offered is specific to one school, one year group and one admissions round, and only the admission authority can give it to you: no catchment area postcode checker, this one included, can. Anyone quoting a national catchment radius is inventing it.
| Stage | Who decides | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| EHC plan naming a school | The local authority, through the plan | Whether the current plan names the school; a named school must give a place |
| Which body is the admission authority | The council for community and voluntary controlled schools; the school itself for academies, free, foundation and voluntary aided | Confirm which, because it decides whose criteria and whose map apply |
| Published admission arrangements | The admission authority, published on the school's website | The oversubscription criteria in order, and how distance is measured |
| The catchment area map | Usually the council, often as a PDF | The map for the correct year group and the correct admissions round |
| Furthest distance offered last round | The admission authority holds it | By year group, for the most recent round; this is the number that decides most contested places |
| Waiting list | The admission authority, usually the school or council | That your child is added; it must be kept open for at least the first term of each school year |
| Appeal | An independent appeal panel | The deadline, and what evidence the panel will consider |
Cite this page
“What decides a school place, in the order it actually applies”, Catchment Checker, https://catchmentchecker.co.uk/ (updated 2026-08-15). Based on the gov.uk school admissions guidance read on 15 August 2026. We publish no distance figures because there is no national scale: the furthest distance offered is specific to one school, one year group and one admissions round, and only the admission authority can give it to you: no catchment area postcode checker, this one included, can. Anyone quoting a national catchment radius is inventing it.
Read next
Every figure sourced and dated.
- How to find the school catchment area map for your postcode
Which body publishes the map where you live, why an academy's may differ from the council's, and what the map does not tell you.
- How school places are actually decided when a school is oversubscribed
Oversubscription criteria in order, why distance is normally the tie-break, and why last year's furthest offer is the number to ask for.
- School waiting lists and appeals: what you are entitled to
The waiting list must stay open for at least the first term, you can stay on it after accepting elsewhere, and appeals go to an independent panel.
The questions we get
Is a school catchment area a legal guarantee of a place?
No. Gov.uk's school admissions guidance does not define a catchment area at all: it tells you to contact your local council for the state-funded schools in your area and their admission criteria. A catchment map describes where a council plans to draw pupils from. Whether your child gets a place is decided by the admission authority's published oversubscription criteria.
How do I find the school catchment area by postcode?
There is no national school catchment area postcode search, so contact your local council, which publishes catchment or planning areas for the schools it is the admission authority for, commonly as a PDF or on a map viewer. For an academy, free school, foundation or voluntary aided school, read the school's own published admission arrangements, because it sets its own criteria and the council's map may not govern it.
Why does the furthest distance offered matter more than the map?
Because where a school is oversubscribed, the criteria have to separate applicants, and distance is normally the tie-break. The practical boundary in any given year is wherever the last offered place fell, which moves with the size of the year group and the number of applicants. Ask the admission authority for that figure by year group for the most recent round.
Who is the admission authority for my child's school?
For community and voluntary controlled schools in England it is the local council. For academies, free schools, foundation and voluntary aided schools it is the school itself. This matters because it determines whose criteria apply, and a faith school's criteria commonly rank worship or church attendance above distance.
Can I stay on a waiting list after accepting another school?
Yes. Gov.uk states that you can add your child's name to a waiting list even if they have been offered a place at another school, and that if a place is later offered you can accept it even if your child has already started elsewhere. The admission authority must keep a waiting list open for at least the first term of each school year.
Does moving house into a catchment area secure a place?
Not by itself. The address used is the one that applies under the admission authority's arrangements at the relevant date, and authorities set rules about which address counts and what evidence they require. Read the published arrangements before relying on a move, and ask the admission authority directly how it treats an address change.
Sources
Get the number that actually decides it.
To check catchment area boundaries, the map is the easy part. Ask your admission authority for last year's furthest distance offered, by year group, and you will know far more than any catchment overlay can tell you.
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