The Castle School
Academy converter in Taunton, TA1 5AU, taking ages 11 to 19, 1,207 on roll.
Homes you looked at
Each measured from its postcode's centre against the 0.36 miles Somerset published for 2025/26, 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 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.36 miles away.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close 31 October 2026; offers on 1 March 2027.
How this compares: every Somerset school's distance, tightest first →
The circle is 0.36 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.
The Castle School: 0.36 miles, 2025/26 Trull Church of England VA Primary School: 0.63 miles, 2025/26, published by Somerset
How to read this
Most English schools do not have a catchment area. When The Castle 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 Somerset. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.
Source: Somerset, published admission distances, 2025/26
Where The Castle School and Trull Church of England VA Primary School are both in reach
Both distances are drawn on the map above. Trull Church of England VA Primary School admitted from 0.63 miles in 2025/26, published by Somerset. Its own page has the rest of its figures.
No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.36 and 0.63 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 Trull Church of England VA Primary School and go back to one school.
If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Somerset, 17 of 116 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (14.7%; 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 The Castle School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.
| School | Phase | Admitted from | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staplegrove Church School Both in reach | Primary | 0.43 mi 2025/26 | 0.9 mi |
| Bishop Fox's School Both in reach | Secondary | 1.12 mi 2025/26 | 1.3 mi |
| Trull Church of England VA Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.63 mi 2025/26 | 1.6 mi |
| Lyngford Park Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 0.77 mi 2025/26 | 1.8 mi |
| Blackbrook Primary School Both in reach | Primary | 5.33 mi 2025/26 | 1.9 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 | 1,207 pupils in 1,188 places (102% full, over capacity) |
| Trust | BLACKDOWN EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP |
| Local authority | Somerset |
Department for Education register (GIAS).
How the school is doing
| Ofsted | Outstanding, inspected 23 November 2023 |
| Attainment 8 | 53.4 (2024/25) |
| Year | Progress 8 |
|---|---|
| 2024/25 | not published |
| 2023/24 | +0.60 |
| 2022/23 | +0.21 |
Ofsted, and the Department for Education's published performance data.
Who goes to The Castle School
| Girls and boys | 51.6% girls, 48.4% boys |
| English as an additional language | 13.9% of pupils |
| Free school meals | 13.3% of pupils eligible |
DfE school census, most recent published year.
Where The Castle School's Year 11 went next
| Stayed for the sixth form | 1.7% |
| Sixth-form college | 61.9% |
| Further education college | 22.6% |
| Apprenticeship | 2.9% |
| Employment | 3.8% |
| No sustained destination recorded | 4.6% |
DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.
Getting to The Castle School by bus
Best-served stop: Aylands Road, 0.2 mi away, with 5.6 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 05:28, last 23:04.
Every stop within 600 m
| Stop | From the school | Weekday daytime, an hour | Evening | Sunday | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Somerset College 1 | 0.1 mi | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 98, 28, 30, 10C, 51, 95 |
| Somerset College | 0.1 mi | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3 |
| Somerset College | 0.2 mi | 4.9 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 22, 22A, 3, 97, X22, 20 |
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 The Castle School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around TA1: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at TA1 5AU, 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 The Castle School?
The Castle 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 0.36 miles away, per Somerset.
How close do I need to live to get a place at The Castle School?
Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.36 miles was enough in 2025/26, and at 102% 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 The Castle 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 Somerset school's distance
All Somerset schools with a published admission distance, tightest first →
How school admissions actually work, and what the distance means →
Put The Castle 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 Somerset. 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.