Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
Sign up to save this school and be told when Essex republishes its distance.
Voluntary aided school in Colchester, CO2 0LZ, taking ages 5 to 11, 124 on roll.
Will an address get in?
In the 2025/26 round, the furthest-away child offered a place at Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School lived 3.058 miles away, according to Essex. Put a postcode in and it is measured against that distance.
Applying for September 2027? Primary applications close on 15 January 2027, with offers on 16 April 2027. The address on the deadline is the one the council uses. How it works.
The circle is 3.058 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26. Real admission areas are not circular: this is the distance, not a boundary.
What kind of school this is
| Religious character | Church of England |
| Sixth form | Does not have a sixth form |
| How full | 124 pupils in 140 places (89% full) |
| Local authority | Essex |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Good, inspected 13 January 2020 |
| Meeting the expected standard | 55.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25) |
| Year | Meeting the expected standard |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 55.0% |
| 2023/24 | 44.0% |
| 2022/23 | 91.0% |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School
| Girls and boys | 44.4% girls, 55.6% boys |
| English as an additional language | 0.8% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 10.5% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
Postcode districts within 3.058 miles
Districts whose centre falls inside 2025/26's distance. A district is wide, so check the address itself rather than the list.
| District | Area | From the school |
|---|---|---|
| CO5 | Colchester | 2.0 mi |
The fee-paying alternative
Weighing Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around CO2: ages, selection, and how full each one is →
Checking the house as well as the school
The full report measures the distance from every nearby school to one address, alongside sold prices, flood risk, crime and the other checks on the same house.
Common questions
What is the catchment area for Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School?
Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided 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 2025/26 lived 3.058 miles away, per Essex.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 3.058 miles was enough in 2025/26. 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 Birch Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School guarantee a place?
No. Admission criteria usually put looked-after children, siblings and faith criteria 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 Essex school's distance
All Essex schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Admission distance published by Essex. 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.