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Panshanger Primary School

Community school in Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1QY, taking ages 3 to 11, 240 on roll.

Good Ofsted, May 2023
0.21 mi Admitted from, latest published year, about 338 metres
100% Full
80.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.21 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.21 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Panshanger Primary School: 0.21 miles Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School: 2.28 miles, published by Hertfordshire

This is not a catchment area. 0.21 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 Panshanger 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 address on the closing date is the one the council uses. How admissions work.

Source: Hertfordshire, published admission distances

Where Panshanger Primary School and Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School admitted from 2.28 miles in the latest published year, published by Hertfordshire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.21 and 2.28 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 Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery 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 Panshanger Primary School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Ridgeway Academy Both in reach Secondary 7.11 mi 0.1 mi
Swallow Dell Primary and Nursery School Both in reach Primary 2.28 mi 0.5 mi
Springmead Primary School Both in reach Primary 4.11 mi 0.6 mi
Waterside Academy Both in reach Primary 0.48 mi 0.7 mi
Holwell Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.54 mi 0.8 mi
Commonswood Primary & Nursery School Both in reach Primary 3.26 mi 1.2 mi

The distance as a picture

Panshanger Primary School catchment area map: the 0.21 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 characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 240 pupils in 240 places (100% full)
Local authorityHertfordshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 25 May 2023
Meeting the expected standard 80.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 80.0%
2023/24 73.0%
2022/23 57.0%

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

Who goes to Panshanger Primary School

Girls and boys51.7% girls, 48.3% boys
English as an additional language9.6% of pupils
Free school meals11.3% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Getting to Panshanger Primary School by bus

Best-served stop: Watchmead, 62 yd away, with 2.1 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:21, last 19:56.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Watchmead62 yd2.10.51.0400, 401, 201
Sir Frederic Osborn School114 yd2.00.51.0401, 400
Watchmead124 yd2.10.81.0401, 400, 201

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 Panshanger Primary School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around AL7: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at AL7 1QY, 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 Panshanger Primary School?

Panshanger 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 0.21 miles away, per Hertfordshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Panshanger Primary School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.21 miles was enough in the latest published year, and at 100% 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 Panshanger 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 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 Panshanger 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 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.