Balcarras School
Academy converter in Cheltenham, GL53 8QF, taking ages 11 to 18, 1,427 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 13.52 miles Gloucestershire published for 2024/25, as the checker measures.
Opened on this device and kept on it only: just their postcodes are sent, to this site, to measure them.
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Will an address get in?
In 2024/25, the furthest child offered a place lived 13.52 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close 31 October 2026; offers on 1 March 2027.
How this compares: every Gloucestershire school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 13.52 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2024/25.
Balcarras School: 13.52 miles, 2024/25 Charlton Kings Junior School: 0.29 miles, 2024/25, published by Gloucestershire
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When Balcarras 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.
One published year so far: 2024/25, from Gloucestershire. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.
Source: Gloucestershire, published admission distances, 2024/25
Where Balcarras School and Charlton Kings Junior School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Charlton Kings Junior School admitted from 0.29 miles in 2024/25, published by Gloucestershire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 13.52 and 0.29 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 Charlton Kings Junior School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Gloucestershire, 140 of 543 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (25.8%; 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 Balcarras School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton Kings Junior School Both in reach | Primary | 0.29 mi 2024/25 | 0.1 mi |
| Glenfall Community Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 1.94 mi 2024/25 | 0.4 mi |
| Holy Apostles' Church of England Primary School | Primary | No limit 2024/25 | 1.2 mi |
| Leckhampton Church of England Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.66 mi 2024/25 | 1.6 mi |
| Prestbury St Mary's Church of England Junior School Both in reach | Primary | 0.89 mi 2024/25 | 2.0 mi |
| St Mary's Church of England Infant School | Primary | No limit 2024/25 | 2.0 mi |
The distance as a picture
What kind of school this is
| Admissions | Non-selective |
| Religious character | No religious character |
| Sixth form | Has a sixth form |
| How full | 1,427 pupils in 1,359 places (105% full, over capacity) |
| Trust | THE BALCARRAS TRUST |
| Local authority | Gloucestershire |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Attainment 8 | 58.5 (2024/25) |
| Year | Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | not published |
| 2023/24 | +0.83 |
| 2022/23 | +0.70 |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to Balcarras School
| Girls and boys | 51.2% girls, 48.8% boys |
| English as an additional language | 4.8% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 6.0% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
Where Balcarras School's Year 11 went next
| Stayed for the sixth form | 69.1% |
| Sixth-form college | 9.3% |
| Further education college | 8.8% |
| Apprenticeship | 3.1% |
| Employment | 1.0% |
| No sustained destination recorded | 2.6% |
DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.
What it costs to live within reach of Balcarras School
Cheapest district inside the 13.52 miles: GL1, median £155,000. Dearest: GL53, £570,000.
| District | Area | From the school | Median sold price |
|---|---|---|---|
| GL1 | Gloucester | 8.7 mi | £155,000 122 sales |
| GL4 | Gloucester | 8.0 mi | £220,000 67 sales |
| GL50 | Cheltenham | 2.1 mi | £242,500 93 sales |
| GL2 | Gloucester | 9.9 mi | £265,000 113 sales |
| GL20 | Tewkesbury | 9.1 mi | £300,000 66 sales |
| GL51 | Cheltenham | 3.1 mi | £310,000 53 sales |
| GL3 | Tewkesbury | 5.8 mi | £337,500 22 sales |
| GL6 | Stroud | 12.0 mi | £360,000 55 sales |
| GL52 | Cheltenham | 2.7 mi | £402,000 123 sales |
| GL53 | Cheltenham | 1.0 mi | £570,000 89 sales |
How to read this
The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 13.52 miles the school admitted from in 2024/25, 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 Balcarras School by bus
Best-served stop: Maple Drive, 0.1 mi away, with 1.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:16, last 23:11.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlton Kings Junior School | 160 yd | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | Q |
| Charlton Kings Junior School | 175 yd | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | P |
| Maple Drive | 0.1 mi | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | B |
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 Balcarras School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around GL53: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at GL53 8QF, 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 Balcarras School?
Balcarras 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 2024/25 lived 13.52 miles away, per Gloucestershire.
How close do I need to live to get a place at Balcarras School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 13.52 miles was enough in 2024/25, and at 105% 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 Balcarras 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 Gloucestershire school's distance
All Gloucestershire schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Put Balcarras School's figure on your own site
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Admission distance published by Gloucestershire. 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.