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Orchard Primary School

Community school in London, E9 7BB, taking ages 3 to 11, 518 on roll.

Report card Ofsted, Nov 2025
1.28 mi Admitted from, 2024/25
82% Full
87.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In 2024/25, the furthest child offered a place lived 1.28 miles away.

Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.

The circle is 1.28 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2024/25.

Orchard Primary School: 1.28 miles, 2024/25 Mowlem Primary School: 0.3 miles, 2024/25, published by Tower Hamlets

This is not a catchment area. 1.28 miles was last year's outcome, not a boundary and not a promise.
How to read this

Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Orchard 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 Orchard Primary School and Mowlem Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Mowlem Primary School admitted from 0.3 miles in 2024/25, published by Tower Hamlets. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 1.28 and 0.3 miles, and the ground those circles share holds no district centre, which is a fact about where the centres fall rather than about any one address. The map above shows both, and the postcode checker answers for both.

Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.

Drop Mowlem 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 Orchard Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Berger Primary School Both in reach Primary 3.66 mi 2024/25 0.4 mi
Morningside Primary School Both in reach Primary 2.54 mi 2024/25 0.4 mi
London Fields Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.65 mi 2024/25 0.5 mi
Mowlem Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.3 mi 2024/25 0.5 mi
Gayhurst Community School Both in reach Primary 0.31 mi 2024/25 0.6 mi
Chisenhale Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.44 mi 2024/25 0.7 mi

The distance as a picture

Orchard Primary School catchment area map: the 1.28 mile admission distance, 2024/25 and the postcode districts inside it
Drawn to scale from the published figure, with the districts whose centre falls inside. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 518 pupils in 630 places (82% full)
Local authorityHackney

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Report card, November 2025: 7 areas strong or exceptional
Report card
  • Safeguarding Met
  • Inclusion Strong standard
  • Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
  • Achievement Strong standard
  • Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
  • Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
  • Early years Strong standard
  • Post-16 provision Not applicable
  • Leadership and governance Strong standard
Ofsted stopped giving schools a single overall grade in 2024; from November 2025 each area is judged on this five-point scale.
Meeting the expected standard 87.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 87.0%
2023/24 84.0%
2022/23 69.0%

Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.

Who goes to Orchard Primary School

Girls and boys51.0% girls, 49.0% boys
English as an additional language40.0% of pupils
Free school meals60.4% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Orchard Primary School

Cheapest district inside the 1.28 miles: E2, median £495,000. Dearest: E8, £825,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
E2 Tower Hamlets 1.0 mi £495,000 89 sales
E9 Hackney 0.4 mi £590,000 57 sales
E8 Hackney 0.8 mi £825,000 107 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 1.28 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 Orchard Primary School by bus

Best-served stop: Holcroft Road, 60 yd away, with 16.4 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 00:19, last 00:36.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Holcroft Road37 yd11.610.09.626, 277
Holcroft Road60 yd16.415.814.326, 277, 388
Terrace Road116 yd5.55.04.6277

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 Orchard 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 7BB, 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 Orchard Primary School?

Orchard 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 1.28 miles away, per Hackney.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Orchard Primary School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 1.28 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 Orchard 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 →

Put Orchard Primary School's figure on your own site

A small badge with the published distance that links back here, for a school website, parents' group or forum.

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Orchard Primary School badge

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.