Everything you need to know about moving for schools

Our extensive experience as estate agents allows us to generally categorise people by their reason for moving. A new job, needing more space, needing less space, relationship changes, financial challenges and schools.

The latter remains an important motivator among young families and couples looking ahead to the educational years. The quest to get children a place at the best schools can be intense, to the point of spawning ‘school catchment coaches’ whose job it is to advise parents on the best locations.

Understandably, the best performing schools – based on league tables, local reputation and inspections - experience the greatest demand, and oversubscription is common. Anecdotal evidence suggests pressure on state school places has increased since the Government added VAT to independent school fees. And that’s where catchments come into play. 

Understand that distance doesn’t guarantee a place

A catchment is a geographical area set by a school. Sometimes the initial admissions process favours students living within the catchment, while other schools only enforce the catchment if the year is oversubscribed. When there are more pupils than spaces available, priority is usually given to:

• ‘looked after’ children

• those with siblings already at the school

• students with parents working at the school

• children with health and special access needs

• students in receipt of Pupil Premium 

Next on the list is usually nearness to the school and a permanent home address will be required when justifying an admissions request. 

Address fraud will be found out

An increase in school admission fraud is testament to how competitive securing a school place can be. In January 2025, Zoopla found 27% of UK parents defied rules to get their children into schools (up from 24%), with lying about their home address the most common mistruth (30%).

If the pupil lives out of catchment, it is not acceptable to put down the address of a friend, relative, business or childminder that is within catchment when applying. Schools are hyper-vigilant: extensive cross-referencing checks do catch cheating parents and if caught, the place is usually withdrawn and the parent sometimes prosecuted under the Fraud Act 2006.

Find out the latest catchment & admissions criteria

Every school will have its own catchment and it can change every year. Before viewing any properties, request a copy of the school’s admissions criteria and catchment. Bear in mind as well as distance from the school gate, some catchments include specific areas and parishes. Selective schools often require an entrance exam pass as well as an address within their catchment, so be sure you can meet both criteria.

Leave plenty of time to complete

If you have a school in mind and want to move within its catchment, getting your timing right is essential. The next primary school admissions deadline is 15th January 2026. If you are banking on an address within catchment, you should have already found your new home and be pushing to exchange in the next couple of weeks.

Those moving for a secondary school catchment have more time. Applications open on 1st September 2026 and close on 31st October 2026. Still, we urge movers to start the buying and selling process early in the New Year to comfortably meet the deadline.

Prepare for a premium

As a footnote, you can expect to pay more to live within the catchment of a good school – a  premium Zoopla put at £65,333 this January. More recently, Santander found those buying in the catchment areas of the UK’s top 50 primary and top 50 secondary schools paid 42% more than the average house price. 

Every school year and every intake differs but living at a property as close to a good school as possible certainly helps. If you are moving for education, please get in touch for advice.