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Marling School

Academy converter in Stroud, GL5 4HE, taking ages 11 to 18, boys, 1,082 on roll.

No current grade Ofsted
No limit Distance did not limit entry, 2024/25
94% Full
73.9 Attainment 8, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

Distance did not limit entry in 2024/25: Gloucestershire records the furthest offer at 413 miles, further than any school run. Distance is not what will decide a place here.

Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close 31 October 2026; offers on 1 March 2027.

No circle to draw: 413 miles is not a distance limit.

Marling School: no circle, distance did not limit entry Stroud Valley Community Primary School: 0.65 miles, 2024/25, published by Gloucestershire

This is not a catchment area. 413 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 Marling 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.

With no distance limit the map shows the school and the postcode you check, and claims nothing about a boundary.

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 Marling School and Stroud Valley Community Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Stroud Valley Community Primary School admitted from 0.65 miles in 2024/25, published by Gloucestershire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

Districts inside both distances mean nothing when one of the two did not limit entry: a figure beyond any school run would put half a county inside it. The map above still shows both schools, 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 Stroud Valley Community Primary 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 Marling School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Stroud High School Secondary No limit 2024/25 0.1 mi
Archway School Both in reach Secondary 8.52 mi 2024/25 0.4 mi
The Rosary Catholic Primary School Primary No limit 2024/25 0.6 mi
Stroud Valley Community Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.65 mi 2024/25 1.0 mi
Gastrells Community Primary School Both in reach Primary 2.64 mi 2024/25 1.1 mi
Uplands Community Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.48 mi 2024/25 1.1 mi

The distance as a picture

Marling School catchment area map: the 413 mile admission distance, 2024/25
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

AdmissionsSelective
Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formHas a sixth form
How full 1,082 pupils in 1,150 places (94% full)
TrustCOTSWOLD BEACON ACADEMY TRUST
Local authorityGloucestershire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Attainment 8 73.9 (2024/25)
YearProgress 8
2024/25 not published
2023/24 +0.64
2022/23 +0.50

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

Who goes to Marling School

Girls and boys7.1% girls, 92.9% boys
English as an additional language12.3% of pupils
Free school meals4.1% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Where Marling School's Year 11 went next

Stayed for the sixth form77.8%
Sixth-form college13.3%
Further education college1.9%
Apprenticeship1.9%
Employment0.0%
No sustained destination recorded0.0%

DfE destination measures, 2022/23. Broad categories only: the DfE does not publish which named schools or colleges pupils moved to.

Getting to Marling School by bus

Best-served stop: Beard's Lane, 0.2 mi away, with 4.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:02, last 00:07 after midnight.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Marling and Stroud High Schools44 yd0.30.00.066
Marling and Stroud High Schools131 yd0.20.00.0129, X54
Marling and Stroud High Schools157 yd0.10.00.0127

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 Marling School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around GL5: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at GL5 4HE, 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 Marling School?

Marling 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 413 miles away, per Gloucestershire.

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

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 413 miles was enough in 2024/25. 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 Marling School guarantee a place?

No. This is a selective school, so admission turns on the entrance assessment before distance is considered at all. The test's own free familiarisation papers are published by GL Assessment, CSSE (Essex and Southend) and Kent County Council; the school's admissions page says which test it uses and when to register. All grammar schools in England, by council. 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 Marling 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.