School Distance Checker
Check the straight-line distance between your home and schools in the UK. Compare distances to up to 3 schools and see the routes on an interactive map.
Try our new distance checker
Find every school near your address, ordered nearest first, with distance rings on the map — instead of naming 3 schools yourself.
Start Checking Distances
Enter your address and select up to 3 schools to see the distances and routes on the map.
Why distance decides so many school places
When a school receives more applications than it has places, it works through a published list of oversubscription criteria. Distance from home usually comes last on that list, but because the criteria above it apply to relatively few children, distance settles most of the remaining places. At a popular school, an offer and a waiting list can be a few hundred metres apart.
The School Admissions Code fixes the first step: children in care and those previously in care come first. After that, most admission authorities use some combination of exceptional medical or social need, siblings already at the school and, at faith schools, a religious criterion. The places left over go on distance, nearest first.
Straight line or walking route: which one counts?
Most authorities measure a straight line between a fixed point at your home and a fixed point at the school. It ignores rivers, railways and main roads, which is why a school 0.3 miles away in a straight line can be a mile long walk. A minority of authorities measure the shortest safe walking route instead.
This checker shows the straight line figure, because that is the number an admissions team is most likely to use. It does not replace the school's own published arrangements, so read those before you apply.
Catchment areas move every year
Plenty of schools have no drawn catchment boundary at all. What people call the catchment is usually last year's cut off: the distance of the furthest child offered a place under the distance criterion. That figure shifts with every admissions round. A new housing development, a bulge year or a neighbouring school's Ofsted result can pull it in or push it out.
Three or four years of published cut off distances tell you more about your chances than one year does. How school catchment areas work covers the rest, including faith and grammar schools.
How to use this distance checker
- 1. Enter your address. A house number and street gives a closer figure than a postcode alone. Nothing you type is stored.
- 2. Choose up to three schools. Each gets a line on the map from your home.
- 3. Read the distances. Each line is labelled with its straight line distance.
School distance and catchment areas: common questions
How is distance to school measured for admissions?
Most admission authorities in England measure a straight line, often described as 'as the crow flies', between a fixed point at your home and a fixed point at the school. A minority measure the shortest safe walking route instead. Which method applies is set out in each school's published admission arrangements, so check those before relying on any distance.
What is a school catchment area?
A catchment area is an area that an admission authority gives priority to. Not every school has one. Many oversubscribed schools have no fixed boundary at all and admit the children who live closest, so the effective catchment is the distance the last place reached that year, and it moves every year with the number of applications. How school catchment areas work.
Does living close to a school guarantee a place?
No. Distance is usually one of several oversubscription criteria, and rarely the first. Children in care and those previously in care come first by law, often followed by exceptional medical or social need, then siblings already at the school, and at faith schools a faith criterion. Distance decides the places still left after all of those.
What distance do I need to be within?
There is no national figure. The number that matters is the school's own cut off distance from recent years, which most admission authorities publish after each round of offers. Look at three or four years of it, because a single year can be unusual.
Is this the exact distance my council will use?
Treat it as a close guide. Councils usually measure from the Ordnance Survey address point of your property, while this tool measures from the location of the address you enter, so small differences are normal. If a few metres would decide your application, ask your council's admissions team for their measurement.
Can I compare several schools at once?
Yes. Choose up to three schools and each one gets its own line on the map with its straight line distance from your home. To see every school near you, nearest first, use the school distance checker on the map.