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Dr Challoner's High School

Academy converter in Amersham, HP7 9QB, taking ages 11 to 18, girls, 1,391 on roll.

Outstanding Ofsted, Jan 2024
0.24 mi Admitted from, 2026/27, about 389 metres
121% Full, over capacity
79.1 Attainment 8, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In 2026/27, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.24 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.24 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2026/27.

Dr Challoner's High School: 0.24 miles, 2026/27 Dr Challoner's Grammar School: 0.14 miles, 2026/27, published by Buckinghamshire

This is not a catchment area. 0.24 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 Dr Challoner's High 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: 2026/27, from Buckinghamshire. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.

Source: Buckinghamshire, published admission distances, 2026/27

Where Dr Challoner's High School and Dr Challoner's Grammar School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Dr Challoner's Grammar School admitted from 0.14 miles in 2026/27, published by Buckinghamshire. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.24 and 0.14 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 Dr Challoner's Grammar School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Buckinghamshire, 67 of 496 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (13.5%; 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 Dr Challoner's High School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Little Chalfont Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.52 mi 2026/27 0.7 mi
Amersham School Both in reach Secondary 2.69 mi 2026/27 1.0 mi
Chestnut Lane School Both in reach Primary 0.39 mi 2026/27 1.5 mi
Elangeni School Both in reach Primary 0.47 mi 2026/27 1.6 mi
Dr Challoner's Grammar School Both in reach Secondary 0.14 mi 2026/27 1.8 mi
Chesham Bois Church of England School Both in reach Primary 1.9 mi 2026/27 1.9 mi

The distance as a picture

Dr Challoner's High School catchment area map: the 0.24 mile admission distance, 2026/27
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 1,391 pupils in 1,145 places (121% full, over capacity)
TrustDR CHALLONER'S HIGH SCHOOL
Local authorityBuckinghamshire

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Outstanding, inspected 24 January 2024
Attainment 8 79.1 (2024/25)
YearProgress 8
2024/25 not published
2023/24 +1.11
2022/23 +1.08

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

Who goes to Dr Challoner's High School

Girls and boys100.0% girls, 0.0% boys
English as an additional language15.5% of pupils
Free school meals2.4% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Where Dr Challoner's High School's Year 11 went next

Stayed for the sixth form97.8%
Sixth-form college0.0%
Further education college1.1%
Apprenticeship0.0%
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 Dr Challoner's High School by bus

Best-served stop: Cavendish Close, 0.3 mi away, with 1.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:29, last 21:29.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Dr Challoners High School75 yd0.20.00.0DCH1, DCH2, DCH4
Cavendish Close0.3 mi1.00.80.0101
Cavendish Close0.3 mi1.00.00.0101

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 Dr Challoner's High School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around HP7: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at HP7 9QB, 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 Dr Challoner's High School?

Dr Challoner's High 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 2026/27 lived 0.24 miles away, per Buckinghamshire.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Dr Challoner's High School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.24 miles was enough in 2026/27, and at 121% 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 Dr Challoner's High 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 Buckinghamshire school's distance

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

Put Dr Challoner's High 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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Dr Challoner's High School badge

Admission distance published by Buckinghamshire. 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.