← School guide Admissions

R A Butler Junior School

Academy converter in Saffron Walden, CB11 3DG, taking ages 7 to 11, 384 on roll.

Outstanding Ofsted, Jun 2024
0.67 mi Admitted from, 2025/26
100% Full
82.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.67 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.67 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.

R A Butler Junior School: 0.67 miles, 2025/26 R A Butler Infant School: 0.82 miles, 2025/26, published by Essex

This is not a catchment area. 0.67 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 R A Butler Junior 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.

One published year so far: 2025/26, from Essex. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.

Source: Essex, published admission distances, 2025/26

Where R A Butler Junior School and R A Butler Infant School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. R A Butler Infant School admitted from 0.82 miles in 2025/26, published by Essex. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.67 and 0.82 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 R A Butler Infant School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Essex, 99 of 645 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (15.3%; 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 R A Butler Junior School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
R A Butler Infant School Both in reach Primary 0.82 mi 2025/26 0.0 mi
St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Both in reach Primary 10.34 mi 2025/26 0.5 mi
Katherine Semar Infant School Both in reach Primary 1.79 mi 2025/26 0.7 mi
Katherine Semar Junior School Both in reach Primary 6.91 mi 2025/26 0.7 mi

The distance as a picture

R A Butler Junior School catchment area map: the 0.67 mile admission distance, 2025/26
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
How full 384 pupils in 384 places (100% full)
TrustSAFFRON ACADEMY TRUST
Local authorityEssex

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Outstanding, inspected 11 June 2024
Meeting the expected standard 82.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 82.0%
2023/24 80.0%
2022/23 73.0%

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

Who goes to R A Butler Junior School

Girls and boys44.0% girls, 56.0% boys
English as an additional language15.6% of pupils
Free school meals11.7% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Getting to R A Butler Junior School by bus

Best-served stop: Friends' School, 0.2 mi away, with 1.9 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:13, last 22:13.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Bell School0.1 mi0.40.00.034
Station Street0.2 mi1.40.50.07, 34
Friends' School0.2 mi1.81.20.0316, 313, 314, 318

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 R A Butler Junior School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around CB11: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at CB11 3DG, 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 R A Butler Junior School?

R A Butler Junior 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 0.67 miles away, per Essex.

How close do I need to live to get a place at R A Butler Junior School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.67 miles was enough in 2025/26, 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 R A Butler Junior 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 Essex school's distance

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

Put R A Butler Junior 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.

Show the badge and its code

R A Butler Junior School badge

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.