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

It depends on the school. Across the 6 Westminster schools with a published figure, the last child admitted lived a median of 0.51 miles away; the tightest was St James & St John Church of England Primary School at 0.14 miles. The distance moves every year with demand.

Do Westminster 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 Westminster schools admitted from

For every oversubscribed school, Westminster publishes how far away the last child offered a place lived. This is that figure for 6 schools, tightest first. A short distance means a school that fills up close to its gates; a long one means places went further afield.

6schools with a published figure

0.51 mithe middle school's distance

6filled within a mile

The tightest is St James & St John Church of England Primary School at 0.14 miles in 2024/25; the most far-reaching, Hampden Gurney CofE Primary School, admitted from 0.54 miles.

Primary schools

School	Ofsted	Admitted from	Round	How full
St James & St John Church of England Primary School London	No current grade	0.14 mi	2024/25	73%
Ark Atwood Primary Academy London	Outstanding	0.46 mi	2024/25	93%
Christ Church Bentinck CofE Primary School London	No current grade	0.49 mi	2024/25	52%
Hallfield Primary School London	No current grade	0.51 mi	2024/25	45%
St Joseph's RC Primary School London	Outstanding	0.51 mi	2024/25	126%
Hampden Gurney CofE Primary School London	Good	0.54 mi	2024/25	94%

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 Westminster 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 Westminster. 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.