How far Suffolk schools admitted from
How far away the last child offered a place lived, for 42 Suffolk 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 Grace Cook Primary School at 0.17 miles in 2026/27; the most far-reaching, Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form, admitted from 15.9 miles.
Primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace Cook Primary School Stowmarket | No current grade | 0.17 mi | 2026/27 | 75% |
| Laureate Community Academy Newmarket | No current grade | 0.2 mi | 2026/27 | 114% |
| Exning Primary School Newmarket | Outstanding | 0.52 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Dale Hall Community Primary School Ipswich | Good | 0.59 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| New Cangle Community Primary School Haverhill | Good | 0.61 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| The Pines Primary School Bury St. Edmunds | Good | 0.62 mi | 2026/27 | 114% |
| The Oaks Primary School Ipswich | Ungraded inspection, November 2024: standards maintained | 0.71 mi | 2026/27 | 103% |
| Halifax Primary School Ipswich | Ungraded inspection, April 2025: standards maintained | 0.84 mi | 2026/27 | 97% |
| Bealings School Woodbridge | Good | 0.91 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Crawford's Church of England Primary School Stowmarket | Good | 0.96 mi | 2026/27 | 86% |
| Copdock Primary School Ipswich | Outstanding | 1.02 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Worlingham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Beccles | No current grade | 1.06 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Birchwood Primary School Ipswich | Outstanding | 1.14 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Sproughton Church of England Primary School Ipswich | Ungraded inspection, March 2025: improved significantly | 1.17 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| Wood Ley Community Primary School Stowmarket | Report card | 1.26 mi | 2026/27 | 97% |
| Woods Loke Primary School Lowestoft | Outstanding | 1.26 mi | 2026/27 | 115% |
| Holton St Peter Community Primary School Halesworth | Report card | 1.29 mi | 2026/27 | 122% |
| Oulton Broad Primary School Lowestoft | No current grade | 1.4 mi | 2026/27 | 109% |
| Elmswell Community Primary School Bury St Edmunds | Ungraded inspection, March 2025: standards maintained | 1.59 mi | 2026/27 | 91% |
| Bramford Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Ipswich | Good | 1.84 mi | 2026/27 | 79% |
| Easton Primary School Woodbridge | Good | 1.88 mi | 2026/27 | 70% |
| Barnham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Nr Thetford | Good | 1.98 mi | 2026/27 | 106% |
| Great Waldingfield Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Sudbury | Good | 1.99 mi | 2026/27 | 97% |
| St Gregory Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Sudbury | Good | 2.01 mi | 2026/27 | 89% |
| Trimley St Martin Primary School Felixstowe | Good | 2.11 mi | 2026/27 | 80% |
| Acton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Sudbury | Good | 2.91 mi | 2026/27 | 93% |
| Nayland Primary School Nr Colchester | Good | 2.93 mi | 2026/27 | 94% |
| Capel St Mary Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Ipswich | Good | 3.1 mi | 2026/27 | 87% |
| Kelsale Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Saxmundham | Good | 3.15 mi | 2026/27 | 100% |
| Rose Hill Primary Ipswich | No current grade | 3.79 mi | 2026/27 | 82% |
| East Bergholt Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Nr Colchester | Good | 3.87 mi | 2026/27 | 93% |
| Moulton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Newmarket | Outstanding | 3.9 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| Elveden Church of England Primary Academy Thetford | Outstanding | 3.96 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Stratford St Mary Primary School Nr Colchester | Good | 4.56 mi | 2026/27 | 84% |
| Barrow Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Bury St Edmunds | No current grade | 5.28 mi | 2026/27 | 95% |
| Ilketshall St Lawrence School Beccles | Report card | 5.29 mi | 2026/27 | 94% |
Secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chantry Academy Ipswich | Good | 0.27 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Northgate High School Ipswich | No current grade | 1.34 mi | 2026/27 | 98% |
| Breckland School Brandon | Good | 6.39 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| East Bergholt High School Colchester | Good | 7.08 mi | 2026/27 | 97% |
| King Edward VI CEVC School Bury St Edmunds | Ungraded inspection, November 2024: standards maintained | 11.84 mi | 2026/27 | 99% |
| Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form Woodbridge | Good | 15.9 mi | 2026/27 | 90% |
If a place is refused
You can appeal. In 2025, 43 of 157 secondary appeals heard here were allowed (27.4%; 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 Suffolk, panels heard 157 appeals for secondary places in the 2025 round and allowed 43 of them, 27.4%, 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 | 193 | 157 | 43 | 27.4% |
| Primary | 86 | 60 | 23 | 38.3% |
| Primary (infant classes) | 38 | 27 | 5 | 18.5% of 27 heard |
How every council compares, and what the figures are and are not.
How often children here are out of school
Primary schools here missed 5.2% of sessions in 2024/25 (England 5.2%), and 12.2% of pupils were persistently absent (England 13.0%).
How to read this
In Suffolk, 5.2% 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: 12.2% of primary pupils here were persistently absent, meaning they missed a tenth or more of their sessions, about the same as England's 13.0%.
| 2024/25 | Sessions missed | England | Persistently absent | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 5.2% | 5.2% | 12.2% | 13.0% |
| Secondary | 9.1% | 8.4% | 24.5% | 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 Suffolk'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, Suffolk 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 Suffolk 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 Suffolk. 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.