Ferndale Primary School
Community school in Birmingham, B43 5QF, taking ages 3 to 11, 551 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 4.39 miles Sandwell published for latest published year, 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 the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 4.39 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close 15 January 2027; offers on 16 April 2027.
How this compares: every Sandwell school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 4.39 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.
Ferndale Primary School: 4.39 miles Barr View Primary & Nursery Academy: 0.54 miles, 2023/24, published by Birmingham
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Ferndale 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.
Source: Sandwell, published admission distances
Where Ferndale Primary School and Barr View Primary & Nursery Academy are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Barr View Primary & Nursery Academy admitted from 0.54 miles in 2023/24, published by Birmingham. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 4.39 and 0.54 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 Barr View Primary & Nursery Academy and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Sandwell, 32 of 354 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (9.0%; 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 Ferndale Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grove Vale Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.55 mi | 0.7 mi |
| Dorrington Academy Both in reach | Primary | 1.16 mi 2023/24 | 0.8 mi |
| Whitecrest Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 1.71 mi | 0.8 mi |
| Q3 Academy Great Barr Both in reach | Secondary | 1.25 mi | 1.0 mi |
| St Margaret's CofE Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.77 mi | 1.3 mi |
| Barr View Primary & Nursery Academy Both in reach | Primary | 0.54 mi 2023/24 | 1.4 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 | 551 pupils in 678 places (81% full) |
| Local authority | Sandwell |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 21 September 2022 |
| Meeting the expected standard | 66.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 66.0% |
| 2023/24 | 46.0% |
| 2022/23 | 50.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Ferndale Primary School
| Girls and boys | 47.7% girls, 52.3% boys |
| English as an additional language | 43.0% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 30.9% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
What it costs to live within reach of Ferndale Primary School
Cheapest district inside the 4.39 miles: B6, median £160,000. Dearest: WS5, £340,000.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| B6 | Birmingham | 3.1 mi | £160,000 43 sales |
| B19 | Birmingham | 3.2 mi | £160,000 36 sales |
| B70 | Sandwell | 3.2 mi | £177,500 47 sales |
| B21 | Birmingham | 2.3 mi | £180,000 94 sales |
| B44 | Birmingham | 2.1 mi | £192,000 171 sales |
| WS1 | Walsall | 3.3 mi | £195,000 44 sales |
| B20 | Birmingham | 1.8 mi | £200,000 73 sales |
| B42 | Birmingham | 1.1 mi | £222,000 169 sales |
| B71 | Sandwell | 2.3 mi | £225,000 75 sales |
| B43 | Sandwell | 0.7 mi | £275,000 102 sales |
| WS5 | Walsall | 2.1 mi | £340,000 103 sales |
How to read this
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 4.39 miles the school admitted from in the latest published year, 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 Ferndale Primary School by bus
Best-served stop: Spouthouse Lane, 0.2 mi away, with 1.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:06, last 18:11.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spouthouse Lane | 0.2 mi | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 54A, 54 |
| Spouthouse Lane | 0.2 mi | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 54, 54A |
| Dyas Avenue | 0.3 mi | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 54, 54A |
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 Ferndale Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around B43: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at B43 5QF, 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 Ferndale Primary School?
Ferndale 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 the latest published year lived 4.39 miles away, per Sandwell.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Ferndale Primary School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 4.39 miles was enough in the latest published year. 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 Ferndale 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 Sandwell school's distance
All Sandwell schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Put Ferndale 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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Admission distance published by Sandwell. 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.