← School guide Admissions

Laurus Ryecroft

Free schools in Manchester, M43 7LJ, taking ages 11 to 18, 1,153 on roll.

Outstanding Ofsted, Mar 2023
0.63 mi Admitted from, latest published year
85% Full
51.6 Attainment 8, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In the latest published round, the furthest child offered a place lived 0.63 miles away.

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

The circle is 0.63 miles, the distance the school admitted from in the latest published year.

Laurus Ryecroft: 0.63 miles Woodhouses Voluntary Primary School: 0.48 miles, 2025/26, published by Oldham

This is not a catchment area. 0.63 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 Laurus Ryecroft 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.

Source: Tameside, published admission distances

Where Laurus Ryecroft and Woodhouses Voluntary Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. Woodhouses Voluntary Primary School admitted from 0.48 miles in 2025/26, published by Oldham. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

No postcode district has its centre inside both distances. The two schools admit from 0.63 and 0.48 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 Woodhouses Voluntary Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Tameside, 29 of 206 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (14.1%; 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 Laurus Ryecroft that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Woodhouses Voluntary Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.48 mi 2025/26 0.8 mi
Greenside Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.6 mi 0.9 mi
Canon Burrows CofE Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.67 mi 1.3 mi
St John's Church of England Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.91 mi 2025/26 1.3 mi
Fairfield High School for Girls Both in reach Secondary 0.72 mi 1.4 mi
Audenshaw Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.5 mi 1.5 mi

The distance as a picture

Laurus Ryecroft catchment area map: the 0.63 mile admission distance
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

AdmissionsNon-selective
Religious characterNo religious character
Sixth formHas a sixth form
How full 1,153 pupils in 1,350 places (85% full)
TrustTHE LAURUS TRUST
Local authorityTameside

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Outstanding, inspected 12 March 2023
Attainment 8 51.6 (2024/25)
YearProgress 8
2024/25 not published
2023/24 +0.73
2022/23 +0.33

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

Who goes to Laurus Ryecroft

Girls and boys50.2% girls, 49.8% boys
English as an additional language12.7% of pupils
Free school meals36.8% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

Where Laurus Ryecroft's Year 11 went next

Stayed for the sixth form22.4%
Sixth-form college21.7%
Further education college38.2%
Apprenticeship3.9%
Employment4.6%
No sustained destination recorded5.9%

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

Getting to Laurus Ryecroft by bus

Best-served stop: Cryer Street, 153 yd away, with 4.1 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:29, last 23:58.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Cryer Street152 yd4.01.22.1231, 230, 864
Cryer Street153 yd4.11.51.7231, 230, 864
Littlemoss Road0.1 mi4.11.51.7231, 230, 864

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 Laurus Ryecroft against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around M43: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at M43 7LJ, 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 Laurus Ryecroft?

Laurus Ryecroft 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 the latest published year lived 0.63 miles away, per Tameside.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Laurus Ryecroft?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 0.63 miles was enough in the latest published year. 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 Laurus Ryecroft 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 Tameside school's distance

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

Put Laurus Ryecroft'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.

Show the badge and its code

Laurus Ryecroft badge

Admission distance published by Tameside. 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.