Schools and catchment or 'designated' areas

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Important changes to catchment areas – September 2027

The way school places are prioritised is changing for admissions from September 2027. For many schools, catchment areas will be replaced by a direct distance model. This means applications will be prioritised using the straight-line distance from your home address to the school.

This change applies if you are applying for a September 2027 place in one of the main transfer rounds: starting school, moving from infant to junior school, or starting secondary school.

For in-year applications where your child would start a new school between September 2026 and July 2027, the current catchment area arrangements still apply for local authority-maintained schools. Please use the schools designated area mapping tool at the bottom of this page for 2026/2027 in-year applications.

General transfer rounds for September 2027 admission

Starting school age 4-5
Moving from an Infant school to start Junior school
Starting Secondary School

If you are applying for one of these general transfer rounds for September 2027, the way places are prioritised will depend on the type of school you apply for:

For local authority-maintained schools, Wokingham Borough Council’s new admission arrangements (PDF) will apply. These schools will use a direct distance model instead of catchment areas.
Some academy schools will also use a direct distance model, but academies set their own admission arrangements. This means some academies will continue to use catchment areas.

Local authority-maintained primary, infant and junior schools using a direct distance model

Aldryngton Primary School
Bearwood Primary School
Farley Hill Primary School
Gorse Ride Infant and Junior Schools
Loddon Primary School
Robert Piggott Infant and Junior Schools
St Paul’s Junior School
The Colleton Primary School
Walter Infant School
Winnersh Primary School
Woodley Primary School

Academy primary, infant and junior schools using a direct distance model

Beechwood Primary School
Floreat Montague Park Primary School
Hawkedon Primary School
Highwood Primary School
Hillside Primary School
Lambs Lane Primary School
Keep Hatch Primary School
Radstock Primary School
Robert Piggott Infant and Junior Schools
South Lake Primary School
St Dominic Savio Catholic Primary School
St Pauls CofE Junior School
St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School
Wheatfield Primary School
Willow Bank Infant and Junior Schools
Windmill Primary School

Academy Secondary schools using a direct distance model

Bulmershe School
Forest Secondary School
Oakbank Secondary School
Waingels College

Academy primary, infant and junior schools continuing to use a catchment area

Please contact the school directly for information about their catchment area.

Alder Grove
Charvil Piggott Primary School
Earley St Peter’s Primary School
Emmbrook Infant and Junior Schools
Grazeley Parochial School
Hatch Ride Primary School
Nine Mile Ride Primary School
Oaklands Infant and Junior Schools
Shinfield Infant School
Shinfield St Mary’s Junior School
St Cecilia’s Primary School
Wescott Infant School
Westende Junior School
The Hawthorns Primary School

Academy secondary schools continuing to use a catchment area

Bohunt School
Emmbrook School
St Crispins School
The Piggott School

School preferences

When deciding which schools to apply for, we strongly encourage you to use all four preferences in your application and consider schools that are nearest to your home address, as well as being easier to get to, such schools are more likely to be able to admit your child.

Use the nearest schools mapping tool to find your nearest schools for the general transfer rounds for September 2027 admission.

In-year admissions – moving to a different school

If you are not applying for one of the general transfer rounds you will be making an in-year admission.

If your child is moving school during the 2026/2027 school year, catchment areas will still be used for local authority-maintained schools. This means the current designated or ‘catchment’ area map is still relevant for these applications.

Use the schools designated areas map to check whether your address is in a school’s catchment area, or to see the catchment area for a particular school.

Some academy schools already use distance rather than catchment areas. These are listed below.

Beechwood primary school
Floreat Montague Park primary school
Keep Hatch Primary School
St Teresa’s Catholic primary school
St Dominic Savio Catholic primary school
Wheatfield Primary School
Windmill Primary School
Forest Secondary school

Further guidance

For more information please read the parent guide relevant to your application, which can be found on the following web pages:

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this information, anomalies do exist. You are advised to discuss your full details with a member of the school admissions team before carrying out any action as a result of search findings.