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Moving into a school's catchment can improve your chances of a place, but only if you are genuinely, permanently resident at the new address by the application deadline (15 January for primary, 31 October for secondary in England). Catchment areas for popular schools are not fixed lines; they shrink and grow with demand, so a house inside last year's cut-off can fall outside this year's. Before you commit to a move, check the latest Ofsted rating of every school near the new address, not just the one you have heard about, because being close to a school is not the same as being offered a place there.
People move house for schools all the time, and for a good reason: for community schools with no faith or selection criteria, how close you live is usually the deciding factor when a school is oversubscribed. But the mechanics are less certain than they look from the outside, and a move made on a rumour can cost a great deal and still miss. This guide sets out what actually governs a place, so you can move with your eyes open.
Most oversubscribed community schools rank applicants by a set of admission criteria published in the school's admissions arrangements. Looked-after children, siblings already at the school and children with an education, health and care plan naming the school usually come first. After those, the tie-breaker for community schools is almost always distance from home to school, measured in a straight line or by a defined route. Your admission depends on where you fall in that distance queue on the day places are allocated, relative to everyone else who applied.
That is why "catchment" is a slippery word. Some schools do publish a defined catchment area, and living inside it gives you priority. Many popular schools do not; they simply offer places to the nearest applicants until they are full. In that case there is no line on a map, only a distance that changes every year. Our report shows every state school near a postcode ranked by distance, so you can see which schools your new address is actually closest to, drawn from the Department for Education's schools register.
The address that counts is the one where the child is permanently and normally resident when you apply. The national closing dates in England are the same every year:
| Stage | Application closes | Offers made |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (Reception) | 15 January | 16 April (National Offer Day) |
| Secondary (Year 7) | 31 October | 1 March (National Offer Day) |
| In-year move (any other time) | Apply once resident | Council allocates from available places |
You normally need to be living at the new address by the closing date, using it as your sole and genuine home. Many councils will ask for proof, such as a council tax bill, a tenancy agreement and a change of GP registration, and some re-check residence right up to National Offer Day. Moving in after the deadline generally will not count for the main round, though you can apply in-year once you have moved. Check the specific rules on your local council's admissions page and in the individual school's admissions arrangements, both of which are published every autumn.
Takeaway: the deadline date and your genuine residence on that date are what decide whether a move counts, not the exchange date on the house or how quickly you unpack.
Three risks catch families out most often.
Catchments shrink. The furthest distance a popular school offered a place last year is not a guarantee for this year. A slightly larger sibling cohort or a few more nearby applicants can pull the cut-off in by a few hundred metres, and the published "last distance offered" figures move around accordingly. Treat last year's cut-off as a rough guide, not a promise.
Rented and short-term addresses draw scrutiny. Councils know that renting near a good school is a common tactic, and admissions teams increasingly check that a rented address is your real, sole home. Keeping ownership of a former property, taking a short tenancy timed around the deadline, or using a relative's address can all lead to a place being withdrawn, sometimes after your child has started. If you rent, be prepared to show it is a genuine long-term move.
You buy near the wrong school. A postcode can sit between several schools, and the nearest one may not be the one with the reputation. Distance is measured to each school's own point, so a house that feels close to a well-regarded school on a map may actually be nearer to two others.
Before committing to an address, look at the Ofsted rating of all the schools your new home would be near, not just the one you set out chasing. Ratings change, a headline grade can be years old, and since September 2024 many schools have no single overall grade at all, so read the date behind each rating and the latest inspection outcome. Our guide to what Ofsted ratings mean explains how to weigh a grade, and the 2024 grade changes guide explains why some schools now show no headline word.
It is also worth understanding the wider picture: how school catchment areas work in more detail, and, if a faith school is on your shortlist, that faith school admissions use their own criteria where distance may barely matter. You can check every school near a postcode, with its latest rating and the year it was given, in our report built from official data before you view a single house.
We show you what the official data says about every school near an address. We cannot promise a place at any of them, because that depends on catchment and each school's admission rules, not on distance alone.
