Guide · Parents · England, Wales
Catchment areas and “distance offered”: what they really tell you
What a catchment area guarantees (and doesn’t), how distance is measured, and how to read last year’s furthest distance.
By the Pyxion Learn team · Checked 30 October 2026
“Are we in catchment?” is the question parents ask most, and the answer is often less certain than it sounds.
A catchment area is a priority, not a guarantee
In England and Wales a catchment (or priority) area is one of a school’s oversubscription criteria. Living inside it puts your child ahead of applicants outside it, but if more catchment children apply than there are places, the school uses its next criterion, very often distance, to choose between them.
Many schools have no catchment area at all and allocate purely by distance after the priority groups.
How distance is measured
Each school’s admission arrangements say how distance is measured. Common methods are a straight line from your home to a point at the school, or the shortest walking route. The measuring points are defined too (for example the main gate). Two homes the same distance apart by road can rank differently.
Reading “last distance offered”
Many councils publish the furthest distance at which a place was offered, by school and year. It is useful, but:
- It moves every year. It depends on how many siblings, catchment children and nearby applicants there were that year. At one Birmingham grammar school the furthest distance offered to high-scoring catchment applicants fell from 5.6 km to 4.4 km over three years (see the case study).
- Offer day isn’t the end. Places that come free between March and September go further down the list, so the final distance can be larger than the offer-day figure.
- It applies to one criterion. The figure usually describes the last child admitted under the distance criterion, not siblings or other priority groups.
Moving for a place
Your home address must be genuine. Admission authorities can investigate addresses and can withdraw a place obtained with a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application. If you are moving, read our moving guide.