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St Paul's Catholic Primary School

Voluntary aided school in Portsmouth, PO6 4JD, taking ages 3 to 11, 272 on roll.

Good Ofsted, Jan 2024
0.83 mi Admitted from, latest published year
65% Full
73.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.83 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.83 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

St Paul's Catholic Primary School: 0.83 miles Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School: 0.93 miles, published by Portsmouth

This is not a catchment area. 0.83 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 St Paul's Catholic 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 and faith criteria 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 address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.

Source: Portsmouth, published admission distances

Where St Paul's Catholic Primary School and Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School admitted from 0.93 miles in the latest published year, published by Portsmouth. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.83 and 0.93 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 Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Portsmouth, 11 of 84 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (13.1%; 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 St Paul's Catholic Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
The Victory Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.63 mi 0.7 mi
Highbury Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.33 mi 1.7 mi
Trafalgar School Both in reach Secondary 1.72 mi 1.7 mi
Gatcombe Park Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.18 mi 1.9 mi
Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.93 mi 2.2 mi
Mayfield School Both in reach Secondary 1.13 mi 2.3 mi

The distance as a picture

St Paul's Catholic Primary School catchment area map: the 0.83 mile admission distance
Drawn to scale from the published figure. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

Religious characterRoman Catholic
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 272 pupils in 420 places (65% full)
Local authorityPortsmouth

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 15 January 2024. Ungraded inspection, January 2024: school remains Good
Meeting the expected standard 73.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 73.0%
2023/24 67.0%
2022/23 66.0%

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

Who goes to St Paul's Catholic Primary School

Girls and boys51.5% girls, 48.5% boys
English as an additional language24.3% of pupils
Free school meals42.6% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Getting to St Paul's Catholic Primary School by bus

Best-served stop: Allaway Avenue Shops, 171 yd away, with 17.4 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; the service runs through the night.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Nailsworth Road90 yd4.83.83.03
Nailsworth Road138 yd5.22.53.03
Allaway Avenue Shops151 yd7.76.05.03, 18

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 St Paul's Catholic Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around PO6: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at PO6 4JD, 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 St Paul's Catholic Primary School?

St Paul's Catholic 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 0.83 miles away, per Portsmouth.

How close do I need to live to get a place at St Paul's Catholic Primary School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.83 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 St Paul's Catholic 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 Portsmouth school's distance

All Portsmouth schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →

Put St Paul's Catholic 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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St Paul's Catholic Primary School badge

Admission distance published by Portsmouth. 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.