Distance and Catchment Area Appeals

Distance is measured by a method the admission authority sets itself

There’s no single national rule for how “distance from home to school” is measured - each admission authority defines and publishes its own method in its admission arrangements. Some measure a straight line (“as the crow flies”), others use a shortest safe walking route. The published cut-off distance for the relevant year is also set out in the same document.

Where genuine errors happen

• The wrong postcode or address was used to calculate distance
• The measuring point used (front door vs. a fixed reference point) doesn’t match the published method
• A different measuring method was used than the one actually published for that admission round
• A house move or change of address before the relevant date wasn’t reflected in the calculation

What strengthens this ground

A specific comparison: the school’s own published measuring method and cut-off distance for the relevant year, set against an independent measurement of your actual distance using the same method. A vague sense that “we’re close enough” carries far less weight than a concrete, checkable discrepancy.

Where it tends to fail

Distance appeals are hardest to win when the measurement is correct and you simply live further away than the cut-off - in that situation, the ground is really about whether your broader circumstances (medical need, exceptional social circumstance, unsuitability of the alternative school) outweigh the school’s case, not the distance calculation itself. Being clear about which of these two situations you’re actually in makes for a much stronger appeal.

Common mistakes parents make with this ground

• Estimating distance using a general mapping app instead of the specific measuring method the school’s admission arrangements actually publish
• Using a current address without checking whether the relevant date for the application was actually a different address
• Focusing the appeal on why the cut-off distance itself is unfair, rather than whether it was correctly applied to your case
• Not requesting the school’s own calculated distance for your application before appealing, which is often available on request

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