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Rivers Primary Academy

Academy sponsor led in Walsall, WS3 1LY, taking ages 3 to 11, 463 on roll.

Report card Ofsted, Mar 2026
0.61 mi Admitted from, 2025/26
101% Full, over capacity
54.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.61 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.61 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.

Rivers Primary Academy: 0.61 miles, 2025/26 North Walsall Primary Academy: 0.23 miles, 2025/26, published by Walsall

This is not a catchment area. 0.61 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 Rivers Primary Academy 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: 2025/26, from Walsall. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.

Source: Walsall, published admission distances, 2025/26

Where Rivers Primary Academy and North Walsall Primary Academy are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. North Walsall Primary Academy admitted from 0.23 miles in 2025/26, published by Walsall. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.61 and 0.23 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 North Walsall Primary Academy and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Walsall, 72 of 353 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (20.4%; 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 Rivers Primary Academy that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Goldsmith Primary Academy Both in reach Primary 0.6 mi 2025/26 0.6 mi
Leamore Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.4 mi 2025/26 0.8 mi
Lower Farm Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.71 mi 2025/26 0.9 mi
Rushall Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.6 mi 2025/26 0.9 mi
Elmore Green Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.09 mi 2025/26 1.0 mi
North Walsall Primary Academy Both in reach Primary 0.23 mi 2025/26 1.5 mi

The distance as a picture

Rivers Primary Academy catchment area map: the 0.61 mile admission distance, 2025/26 and the postcode districts inside it
Drawn to scale from the published figure, with the districts whose centre falls inside. Save the picture, or share this page and this is the card that appears.

What kind of school this is

Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formDoes not have a sixth form
How full 463 pupils in 459 places (101% full, over capacity)
TrustWINDSOR ACADEMY TRUST
Local authorityWalsall

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Report card, March 2026: 6 at the expected standard, 1 needing attention or urgent improvement
Report card
  • Safeguarding Met
  • Inclusion Expected standard
  • Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
  • Achievement Needs attention
  • Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
  • Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard
  • Early years Expected standard
  • Post-16 provision Not applicable
  • Leadership and governance Expected standard
Ofsted stopped giving schools a single overall grade in 2024; from November 2025 each area is judged on this five-point scale.
Meeting the expected standard 54.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 54.0%
2023/24 82.0%
2022/23 72.0%

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

Who goes to Rivers Primary Academy

Girls and boys51.8% girls, 48.2% boys
English as an additional language24.8% of pupils
Free school meals51.0% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Rivers Primary Academy

Cheapest district inside the 0.61 miles: WS3, median £190,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
WS3 Walsall 0.3 mi £190,000 123 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 0.61 miles the school admitted from in 2025/26, 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 Rivers Primary Academy by bus

Best-served stop: Goscote Lane, 104 yd away, with 1.8 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 07:24, last 18:54.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Goscote Lane104 yd1.80.00.919
Thames Road159 yd1.80.00.919
Mersey Road0.1 mi1.80.00.919

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 Rivers Primary Academy against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around WS3: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at WS3 1LY, 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 Rivers Primary Academy?

Rivers Primary Academy 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 0.61 miles away, per Walsall.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Rivers Primary Academy?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.61 miles was enough in 2025/26, and at 101% 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 Rivers Primary Academy 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 Walsall school's distance

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

Put Rivers Primary Academy'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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Rivers Primary Academy badge

Admission distance published by Walsall. 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.