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Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery

Community school in Berkhamsted, HP4 2LJ, taking ages 3 to 7, 144 on roll.

Good Ofsted, Feb 2023
6.36 mi Admitted from, latest published year
80% Full

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 6.36 miles away.

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

The circle is 6.36 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery: 6.36 miles Ashlyns School: 3.82 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 6.36 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery and Ashlyns School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Ashlyns School admitted from 3.82 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 HP5 at £399,000; the dearest shown, HP4, £515,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Swing Gate Infant School and NurseryFrom Ashlyns SchoolMedian sold price
HP5 Buckinghamshire 3.8 mi 3.4 mi £399,000 125 sales
HP1 Dacorum 2.9 mi 3.3 mi £425,000 106 sales
HP4 Dacorum 1.0 mi 1.0 mi £515,000 101 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 Ashlyns 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Ashlyns School Both in reach Secondary 3.82 mi 0.5 mi
Greenway Primary and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 0.32 mi 1.1 mi
Bridgewater Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.66 mi 1.3 mi
Westfield Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.45 mi 1.4 mi
Oakleaf Primary Both in reach Primary 0.82 mi 2.4 mi
Pixies Hill Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.82 mi 2.4 mi

The distance as a picture

Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery catchment area map: the 6.36 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 144 pupils in 180 places (80% full)
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 05 February 2023. Ungraded inspection, February 2023: school remains Good

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

Who goes to Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery

Girls and boys52.8% girls, 47.2% boys
English as an additional language13.2% of pupils
Free school meals4.2% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery

Cheapest district inside the 6.36 miles: HP3, median £365,000. Dearest: HP6, £740,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
HP3 Dacorum 3.9 mi £365,000 133 sales
HP2 Dacorum 4.4 mi £385,575 85 sales
HP5 Buckinghamshire 3.8 mi £399,000 125 sales
HP1 Dacorum 2.9 mi £425,000 106 sales
HP23 Dacorum 5.3 mi £442,000 101 sales
WD4 Dacorum 5.5 mi £492,000 113 sales
HP4 Dacorum 1.0 mi £515,000 101 sales
HP6 Buckinghamshire 5.7 mi £740,000 73 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 6.36 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery by bus

Best-served stop: Swing Gate Lane, 27 yd away, with 2.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:13, last 20:09.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Swing Gate Lane27 yd2.00.80.0500, X500
Swing Gate Lane125 yd2.00.00.0500, X500
Holly Drive172 yd0.40.00.0354

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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around HP4: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at HP4 2LJ, 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery?

Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery 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 6.36 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 6.36 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery 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 Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery'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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Swing Gate Infant School and Nursery badge

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.