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Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School

Community school in Sawbridgeworth, CM21 9AT, taking ages 3 to 7, 211 on roll.

Outstanding Ofsted, May 2024
3.67 mi Admitted from, latest published year
117% Full, over capacity

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 3.67 miles away.

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

The circle is 3.67 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School: 3.67 miles Spellbrook CofE Primary School: 5.05 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 3.67 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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' 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: Hertfordshire, published admission distances

Where Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School and Spellbrook CofE Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Spellbrook CofE Primary School admitted from 5.05 miles in the latest published year, published by Hertfordshire. 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 CM20 at £300,000; the dearest shown, CM17, £450,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Fawbert and Barnard Infants' SchoolFrom Spellbrook CofE Primary SchoolMedian sold price
CM20 Harlow 3.4 mi 4.7 mi £300,000 123 sales
CM21 East Hertfordshire 0.3 mi 1.6 mi £426,000 101 sales
CM17 Harlow 2.8 mi 4.2 mi £450,000 154 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.

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

Drop Spellbrook CofE Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Hertfordshire, 109 of 519 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (21.0%; 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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

The distance as a picture

Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School catchment area map: the 3.67 mile admission distance 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 211 pupils in 180 places (117% full, over capacity)
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Outstanding, inspected 01 May 2024

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

Who goes to Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School

Girls and boys47.4% girls, 52.6% boys
English as an additional language8.5% of pupils
Free school meals6.6% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School

Cheapest district inside the 3.67 miles: CM20, median £300,000. Dearest: CM17, £450,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
CM20 Harlow 3.4 mi £300,000 123 sales
CM21 East Hertfordshire 0.3 mi £426,000 101 sales
CM17 Harlow 2.8 mi £450,000 154 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 3.67 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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School by bus

Best-served stop: White Lion PH, 0.2 mi away, with 5.2 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; the service runs through the night.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
White Lion PH0.2 mi5.22.81.9509, 510, 33, 509A, 510A, 33A
Station Road0.2 mi5.22.81.9509, 510, 33, 509A, 510A, 33A
Station Road0.2 mi5.21.81.9510, 509, 33, 509A, 510A, 33A

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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around CM21: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at CM21 9AT, 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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School?

Fawbert and Barnard Infants' 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 3.67 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Fawbert and Barnard Infants' School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 3.67 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 117% full the school has little slack. 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 Fawbert and Barnard Infants' 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 Hertfordshire school's distance

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

Put Fawbert and Barnard Infants' 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 Hertfordshire. 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.