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Willow Bank Infant School

Academy converter in Reading, RG5 4RW, taking ages 5 to 7, 152 on roll.

Good Ofsted, Sep 2022
5.19 mi Admitted from, 2025/26
84% Full

Will an address get in?

In 2025/26, the furthest child offered a place lived 5.19 miles away.

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

The circle is 5.19 miles, the distance the school admitted from in 2025/26.

Willow Bank Infant School: 5.19 miles, 2025/26 St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School: 2.49 miles, 2025/26, published by Wokingham

This is not a catchment area. 5.19 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 Willow Bank Infant 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 Wokingham. With two or more, the map can draw any of them.

Source: Wokingham, published admission distances, 2025/26

Where Willow Bank Infant School and St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School are both in reach

Both distances are drawn on the map above. St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School admitted from 2.49 miles in 2025/26, published by Wokingham. 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 RG5 at £440,000. A district is wide, so check the address itself, not the list.

DistrictAreaFrom Willow Bank Infant SchoolFrom St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary SchoolMedian sold price
RG5 Wokingham 0.7 mi 0.5 mi £440,000 104 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. 1 more district falls inside both without enough recorded sales to rank: RG6.

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

Drop St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School and go back to one school.

If the answer is no, you can appeal. In Wokingham, 6 of 49 secondary appeals succeeded in 2025 (12.2%; 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 Willow Bank Infant School that also have a council-published admission distance, nearest first.

SchoolPhaseAdmitted fromAway
St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School Both in reach Primary 2.49 mi 2025/26 0.5 mi
Sonning Church of England Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.42 mi 2025/26 0.7 mi
St Nicholas Church of England Primary, Hurst Both in reach Primary 1.71 mi 2025/26 1.8 mi
The Colleton Primary School Both in reach Primary 0.89 mi 2025/26 1.8 mi
Aldryngton Primary School Both in reach Primary 1.21 mi 2025/26 2.1 mi
Maiden Erlegh School in Reading Both in reach Secondary 1.7 mi 2025/26 2.1 mi

The distance as a picture

Willow Bank Infant School catchment area map: the 5.19 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 152 pupils in 180 places (84% full)
TrustORCHARD LEARNING ALLIANCE
Local authorityWokingham

Department for Education register (GIAS).

How the school is doing

Ofsted Good, inspected 21 September 2022. Ungraded inspection, September 2022: school remains Good

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

Who goes to Willow Bank Infant School

Girls and boys45.4% girls, 54.6% boys
English as an additional language13.2% of pupils
Free school meals3.9% of pupils eligible

DfE school census, most recent published year.

What it costs to live within reach of Willow Bank Infant School

Cheapest district inside the 5.19 miles: RG1, median £275,000. Dearest: RG10, £572,500.

DistrictAreaFrom the schoolMedian sold price
RG1 Reading 3.3 mi £275,000 117 sales
RG30 Reading 5.2 mi £366,000 104 sales
RG2 Wokingham 3.8 mi £420,000 109 sales
RG5 Wokingham 0.7 mi £440,000 104 sales
RG40 Wokingham 5.0 mi £450,000 104 sales
RG4 Reading 3.5 mi £460,000 83 sales
RG41 Wokingham 3.4 mi £476,000 116 sales
RG10 Wokingham 2.3 mi £572,500 65 sales
How to read this

The postcode districts whose centre falls inside the 5.19 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 Willow Bank Infant School by bus

Best-served stop: Brecon Road Parade, 0.2 mi away, with 2.0 buses an hour on weekday daytimes; first bus 05:17, last 23:21.

Every stop within 600 m
StopFrom the schoolWeekday daytime, an hourEveningSundayRoutes
Brecon Road Parade0.1 mi1.91.21.013
Brecon Road Parade0.2 mi2.01.21.014
Brandon Avenue0.2 mi1.91.21.013

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 Willow Bank Infant School against the independent sector? Every fee-paying school around RG5: ages, selection, and how full each one is → What it costs to live at RG5 4RW, 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 Willow Bank Infant School?

Willow Bank Infant 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 5.19 miles away, per Wokingham.

How close do I need to live to get a place at Willow Bank Infant School?

Nobody can say in advance, and anyone who does is guessing. 5.19 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 Willow Bank Infant 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 Wokingham school's distance

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

Put Willow Bank Infant 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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Admission distance published by Wokingham. 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.