← School guide Admissions

Blackwood School

Academy converter in Sutton Coldfield, B74 3PH, taking ages 3 to 11, 677 on roll.

Ungraded Ungraded inspection, December 2024: standards maintained
3.19 mi Admitted from, 2025/26
96% Full
79.0% Met the expected standard, 2024/25

Will an address get in?

In 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 3.19 miles away.

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

The circle is 3.19 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.

Blackwood School: 3.19 miles, 2025/26 St Margaret's CofE Primary School: 0.77 miles, published by Sandwell

This is not a catchment area. 3.19 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 Blackwood 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 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 Blackwood School and St Margaret's CofE Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. St Margaret's CofE Primary School admitted from 0.77 miles in the latest published year, published by Sandwell. Its own page has the rest of its figures.

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside both published distances, cheapest first by the median of real sales around each district's centre. The cheapest is B43 at £275,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Blackwood SchoolFrom St Margaret's CofE Primary SchoolMedian sold price
B43 Sandwell 2.7 mi 0.7 mi £275,000 102 sales

Sold prices from HM Land Registry, via each district's area guide. Distances measured from each district's centre to each school's point on the Department for Education register.

Sign up to save both schools and be told when either council republishes the distance these answers rest on.

Drop St Margaret's CofE Primary School 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 Blackwood School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
Lindens Academy Both in reach Primary 1.44 mi 2025/26 0.9 mi
Meadow View Academy Both in reach Primary 0.7 mi 2025/26 1.2 mi
Whetstone Field Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.77 mi 2025/26 1.4 mi
Sutton Park Primary Both in reach Primary 1.16 mi 2023/24 1.7 mi
Four Oaks Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.48 mi 2023/24 2.0 mi
St Margaret's CofE Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.77 mi 2.4 mi

The distance as a picture

Blackwood School catchment area map: the 3.19 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 677 pupils in 708 places (96% full)
TrustCENTRAL CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING TRUST
Local authorityWalsall

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Ungraded inspection, December 2024: standards maintained
Meeting the expected standard 79.0% in reading, writing and maths (2024/25)
YearMeeting the expected standard
2024/25 79.0%
2023/24 70.0%
2022/23 71.0%

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

Who goes to Blackwood School

Girls and boys50.8% girls, 49.2% boys
English as an additional language7.8% of pupils
Free school meals5.5% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Blackwood School

Cheapest district inside the 3.19 miles: B44, median £192,000. Dearest: B74, £749,000.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
B44 Birmingham 2.5 mi £192,000 171 sales
WS9 Walsall 2.3 mi £257,950 135 sales
B43 Sandwell 2.7 mi £275,000 102 sales
WS5 Walsall 2.9 mi £340,000 103 sales
B73 Birmingham 2.9 mi £410,000 152 sales
B74 Birmingham 1.4 mi £749,000 108 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 3.19 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 Blackwood School by bus

Best-served stop: Schoolacre Rise, 0.1 mi away, with 1.9 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 06:55, last 18:55.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Clinic172 yd0.30.00.078
Clinic0.1 mi0.20.00.078
Schoolacre Rise0.1 mi1.80.01.077, 77A, 77S

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 Blackwood School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around B74: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at B74 3PH, 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 Blackwood School?

Blackwood 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 3.19 miles away, per Walsall.

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

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 3.19 miles was enough in 2025/26. 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 Blackwood 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 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 Blackwood 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.

Show the badge and its code

Blackwood School 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.