Gainsborough Primary School
Community school in London, E9 5ND, taking ages 0 to 11, 308 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 8.33 miles Hackney published for 2024/25, as the checker measures.
Opened on this device and kept on it only: just their postcodes are sent, to this site, to measure them.
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Will an address get in?
In 2024/25, the furthest child offered a place lived 8.33 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.
How this compares: every Hackney school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 8.33 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2024/25.
Gainsborough Primary School: 8.33 miles, 2024/25 Berger Primary School: 3.66 miles, 2024/25, published by Hackney
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Gainsborough Primary School is oversubscribed, places go outward from the school until they run out, so the distance moves each year with how many families applied and where they lived.
Distances are measured from the postcode's centre, not a front door; a postcode covers a few houses. Siblings, looked-after children come before distance, so a school can fill before distance counts at all.
Real admission areas are not circular: the circle is the distance, not a boundary. The labels on the map are postcode districts whose centre falls inside both circles; each opens the district's guide.
The address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.
One published year so far: 2024/25, from Hackney. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.
Source: Hackney, published admission distances, 2024/25
Where Gainsborough Primary School and Berger Primary School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Berger Primary School admitted from 3.66 miles in 2024/25, published by Hackney. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside both published distances, cheapest first by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is EC3V at £249,500; the dearest shown, N4, £516,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.
| District | Area | From Gainsborough Primary School | From Berger Primary School | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC3V | City of London | 3.4 mi | 2.9 mi | £249,500 38 sales |
| E3 | Tower Hamlets | 1.2 mi | 1.5 mi | £400,000 81 sales |
| E1W | Tower Hamlets | 2.9 mi | 2.6 mi | £400,000 90 sales |
| E13 | Newham | 2.6 mi | 3.3 mi | £400,000 74 sales |
| SE16 | Southwark | 3.6 mi | 3.4 mi | £456,000 55 sales |
| E15 | Newham | 1.3 mi | 2.1 mi | £463,500 95 sales |
| EC4N | City of London | 3.6 mi | 3.0 mi | £470,000 5 sales |
| EC4R | City of London | 3.7 mi | 3.1 mi | £470,000 5 sales |
| E7 | Newham | 2.3 mi | 3.1 mi | £485,000 73 sales |
| N15 | Haringey | 3.5 mi | 3.0 mi | £485,000 95 sales |
| E2 | Tower Hamlets | 1.9 mi | 1.4 mi | £495,000 89 sales |
| N4 | Haringey | 3.7 mi | 3.0 mi | £516,000 137 sales |
Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Distances measured from each district's centre to each school's point on the Department for Education register. Only the cheapest 12 are listed. 7 more districts fall inside both without enough recorded sales to rank: EC2M, N1P, EC3R, EC2V, EC4M, EC1P, EC2P.
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Drop Berger Primary School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Hackney, 12 of 107 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (11.2%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together. How every council compares.
Other schools nearby with a published distance
The closest schools to Gainsborough Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daubeney Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 6.6 mi 2024/25 | 0.7 mi |
| Kingsmead Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 1.63 mi 2024/25 | 0.7 mi |
| Berger Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 3.66 mi 2024/25 | 0.8 mi |
| Harris Academy Chobham Both in reach | Secondary | 0.58 mi 2025/26 | 0.8 mi |
| Mandeville Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 2.58 mi 2024/25 | 1.0 mi |
| Morningside Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 2.54 mi 2024/25 | 1.0 mi |
The distance as a picture
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 308 pupils in 320 places (96% full) |
| Local authority | Hackney |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 13 September 2023 |
| Meeting the expected standard | 57.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 57.0% |
| 2023/24 | 68.0% |
| 2022/23 | 53.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Gainsborough Primary School
| Girls and boys | 46.1% girls, 53.9% boys |
| English as an additional language | 34.1% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 54.2% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
What it costs to live within reach of Gainsborough Primary School
Cheapest district inside the 8.33 miles: E3, median £400,000. Dearest: E8, £825,000.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| E3 | Tower Hamlets | 1.2 mi | £400,000 81 sales |
| E15 | Newham | 1.3 mi | £463,500 95 sales |
| E7 | Newham | 2.3 mi | £485,000 73 sales |
| E2 | Tower Hamlets | 1.9 mi | £495,000 89 sales |
| E10 | Waltham Forest | 1.6 mi | £520,000 151 sales |
| E11 | Waltham Forest | 2.3 mi | £520,000 137 sales |
| E1 | Tower Hamlets | 2.4 mi | £570,000 33 sales |
| E9 | Hackney | 0.7 mi | £590,000 57 sales |
| E20 | Newham | 0.7 mi | £600,000 28 sales |
| N16 | Hackney | 2.5 mi | £615,000 109 sales |
| E5 | Hackney | 1.5 mi | £795,000 84 sales |
| E8 | Hackney | 1.7 mi | £825,000 107 sales |
How to read this
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 8.33 miles the school admitted from in 2024/25, cheapest first, by the median of real sales around each district's centre. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list. Districts without enough recorded sales to rank are not shown.
How this compares across England: what a tight gate costs, school by school.
Source: HM Land Registry sold prices, via each district's area guide
Getting to Gainsborough Primary School by bus
Best-served stop: HereEast / The Yard, 0.1 mi away, with 9.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:30, last 23:30.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Road | 16 yd | 5.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 276 |
| Berkshire Road | 104 yd | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 276 |
| Osborne Road | 0.1 mi | 5.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 276 |
These are scheduled departures, not buses observed running. Two stops on opposite sides of a road are two rows.
Source: operators' timetables on the Bus Open Data Service (Department for Transport), week of 8 Sep 2026
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing Gainsborough Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around E9: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at E9 5ND, by the school: council tax, energy, prices, rent, stamp duty →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report checks one address against every nearby school, with sold prices, flood risk and crime.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for Gainsborough Primary School?
Gainsborough Primary School does not have one in the sense most people mean. Like most English schools, an oversubscribed year offers places outward from the school until they run out. The nearest thing to an answer: the furthest child admitted in 2024/25 lived 8.33 miles away, per Hackney.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Gainsborough Primary School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 8.33 miles was enough in 2024/25. The distance moves every year with the number of applications, so treat last year's figure as evidence, not a promise.
Does buying a house near Gainsborough Primary School guarantee a place?
No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings ahead of distance, so places can be filled before distance is reached. Councils also check that the address is genuinely where the child lives.
Every Hackney school's distance
All Hackney schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
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Admission distance published by Hackney. School details from the Department for Education's register, ratings from Ofsted. Read how every figure on this site is sourced on the methodology page. If something here looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.