How far Central Bedfordshire schools admitted from
How far away the last child offered a place lived, for 40 Central Bedfordshire schools, from the council's own figures. Tightest first.
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Primary and secondary schools, from the 2026/27 round.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close on 31 October 2026, with offers on 1 March 2027; primary applications close on 15 January 2027, with offers on 16 April 2027.
The tightest is Gravenhurst Academy at 0.24 miles in 2026/27; the most far-reaching, Clipstone Brook Lower School, admitted from 10.87 miles.
Primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravenhurst Academy Bedford | Outstanding | 0.24 mi | 2026/27 | 96% |
| Clifton All Saints Academy Near Shefford | Good | 0.29 mi | 2026/27 | 95% |
| Linslade Lower School Leighton Buzzard | Report card | 0.3 mi | 2026/27 | 80% |
| Potton Primary School Sandy | No current grade | 0.45 mi | 2026/27 | 92% |
| Beaudesert Lower School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 0.49 mi | 2026/27 | 96% |
| Dovery Academy Leighton Buzzard | No current grade | 0.5 mi | 2026/27 | 127% |
| Watling Lower School Dunstable | Ungraded inspection, January 2025: some aspects not as strong | 0.6 mi | 2026/27 | 127% |
| Lawnside Academy Biggleswade | Good | 0.7 mi | 2026/27 | 67% |
| Heathwood Lower School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 0.71 mi | 2026/27 | 130% |
| St Vincent's Catholic Primary School Dunstable | Good | 0.82 mi | 2026/27 | 101% |
| Langford Village Academy Biggleswade | Good | 0.84 mi | 2026/27 | 94% |
| Raynsford Church of England Academy Henlow | Ungraded inspection, December 2024: standards maintained | 0.86 mi | 2026/27 | 105% |
| Lark Rise Academy Dunstable | No current grade | 0.88 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| The Rushmere Park Academy Leighton Buzzard | Report card | 0.91 mi | 2026/27 | 138% |
| Houghton Regis Primary School Dunstable | No current grade | 1.06 mi | 2026/27 | 123% |
| Thornhill Primary School Dunstable | No current grade | 1.13 mi | 2026/27 | 78% |
| Maple Tree Primary School Sandy | Good | 1.21 mi | 2026/27 | 96% |
| Shefford Lower School Shefford | Good | 1.23 mi | 2026/27 | 114% |
| Derwent Primary School Henlow | Good | 1.35 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Chalton Lower School Luton | Good | 1.8 mi | 2026/27 | 87% |
| Sutton CofE VA Primary School Sutton | Report card | 2.05 mi | 2026/27 | 93% |
| Moggerhanger Primary School Bedford | Good | 2.07 mi | 2026/27 | 95% |
| Woburn Lower School Woburn | Good | 2.1 mi | 2026/27 | 108% |
| Haynes Lower School Bedford | Good | 2.21 mi | 2026/27 | 113% |
| St Mary's Catholic Primary School Luton | Good | 2.22 mi | 2026/27 | 109% |
| Caldecote Church of England Academy Biggleswade | Good | 2.26 mi | 2026/27 | 71% |
| Thomas Johnson Lower School Bedford | Good | 2.46 mi | 2026/27 | 84% |
| Southill Lower School Biggleswade | Report card | 2.51 mi | 2026/27 | 104% |
| Stanbridge Lower School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 2.62 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Hockliffe Lower School Leighton Buzzard | No current grade | 3.11 mi | 2026/27 | 89% |
| Beecroft Academy Dunstable | Good | 3.21 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| Russell Lower School Ampthill | Good | 3.63 mi | 2026/27 | 97% |
| Harlington Lower School Dunstable | Good | 4.33 mi | 2026/27 | 87% |
| Clipstone Brook Lower School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 10.87 mi | 2026/27 | 102% |
Secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priory Academy Dunstable | Good | 0.26 mi | 2026/27 | 119% |
| Leighton Middle School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 0.49 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Brooklands Middle School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 0.9 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Linslade School Leighton Buzzard | Good | 1.99 mi | 2026/27 | 109% |
| Robert Bloomfield Academy Shefford | No current grade | 4.02 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Etonbury Academy Arlesey | Good | 5.01 mi | 2026/27 | 91% |
If a place is refused
You can appeal. In 2025, 37 of 121 secondary appeals heard here were allowed (30.6%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together.
How to read this
Every refusal carries a right of appeal to an independent panel. In Central Bedfordshire, panels heard 121 appeals for secondary places in the 2025 round and allowed 37 of them, 30.6%, against 19.9% across England. These are the council's figures for all its schools together: appeals are not published school by school, so no one can tell you the rate for one named school, and this page will not pretend to.
An infant class appeal, for reception to year 2, can only be allowed on narrow legal grounds, which is why its share is a fraction of the others.
| Appeals in 2025 | Lodged | Heard | Allowed | Share allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary | 158 | 121 | 37 | 30.6% |
| Primary | 92 | 62 | 20 | 32.3% |
| Primary (infant classes) | 67 | 39 | 14 | 35.9% |
How every council compares, and what the figures are and are not.
How often children here are out of school
Primary schools here missed 5.0% of sessions in 2024/25 (England 5.2%), and 11.3% of pupils were persistently absent (England 13.0%).
How to read this
In Central Bedfordshire, 5.0% of primary school sessions were missed in 2024/25, about the same as the 5.2% across England. That is days missed. The second figure is children: 11.3% of primary pupils here were persistently absent, meaning they missed a tenth or more of their sessions, lower than England's 13.0%.
| 2024/25 | Sessions missed | England | Persistently absent | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 5.0% | 5.2% | 11.3% | 13.0% |
| Secondary | 7.4% | 8.4% | 20.0% | 23.4% |
What the figures mean
Persistently absent means missing a tenth or more of their sessions, for any reason, authorised or not. A council's rate is moved by things no school controls, term-time holidays and a bad winter among them, so read it as the weather around the schools rather than a mark against them. Higher or lower is said only where the two rates differ by at least 1 percentage point.
These are Central Bedfordshire's figures for all its schools together. The Department for Education publishes absence by council, not school by school, so no one can give you the rate for one named school from this release. Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk. Read on 1 October 2026.
Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, by council, not school by school
Reading the numbers
These are distances, not catchment areas, and they move every year.
How to read this
For every oversubscribed school, Central Bedfordshire publishes how far away the last child offered a place lived. A short distance means a school that fills up close to its gates; a long one means places went further afield. The address on the deadline is the one the council uses.
These are not catchment areas: most English schools have none. Each figure is the distance from the school to the home of the furthest child who was offered a place under the distance criterion in that round, as Central Bedfordshire measures it, which is usually a straight line from a fixed point at the home to one at the school. Looked-after children, siblings and, at faith schools, faith criteria come before distance, so a school can fill before distance is reached at all. The figure moves every year with the number of applications. How the whole process works →
Checking an address against these
Each school's page has a checker that measures a postcode against that school's distance. The full property report measures every nearby school at once, alongside sold prices, flood risk and the rest of the house.
Admission distances published by Central Bedfordshire. School details and grades from the Department for Education's register and Ofsted. If a figure looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.