How far do you need to live from a school in Manchester to get a place?

It depends on the school. Across the 7 Manchester schools with a published figure, the last child admitted lived a median of 1.38 miles away; the tightest was Co-op Academy Belle Vue at 0.85 miles. The distance moves every year with demand.

Do Manchester schools have catchment areas?

Most English schools do not. When a school is oversubscribed, places are offered outward from the school until they run out, so what exists is how far the last admitted child lived, which the council publishes after each round. That is the figure on this page.

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How far Manchester schools admitted from

For every oversubscribed school, Manchester publishes how far away the last child offered a place lived. This is that figure for 7 schools, tightest first. A short distance means a school that fills up close to its gates; a long one means places went further afield.

7schools with a published figure

1.38 mithe middle school's distance

1filled within a mile

The tightest is Co-op Academy Belle Vue at 0.85 miles in 2026/27; the most far-reaching, Parrs Wood High School, admitted from 2.27 miles.

Secondary schools

School	Ofsted	Admitted from	Round	How full
Co-op Academy Belle Vue Manchester	Outstanding	0.85 mi	2026/27	79%
Didsbury High School Manchester	Outstanding	1.0 mi	2026/27	90%
Co-op Academy North Manchester	No current grade	1.27 mi	2026/27	84%
Chorlton High School Manchester	No current grade	1.38 mi	2026/27	100%
Levenshulme High School Manchester	No current grade	1.62 mi	2026/27	96%
Burnage Academy for Boys Manchester	No current grade	2.15 mi	2026/27	94%
Parrs Wood High School Manchester	No current grade	2.27 mi	2026/27	96%

Reading the numbers

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 Manchester 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 Manchester. 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.