When my family was weighing up a big move, I did what most parents do. I looked at the area first. Checked the commute, walked the high street, scrolled through Rightmove at 11pm. Schools were on the list, but they were not at the top of it.
I have spent thirteen years running School Guide and advising families on school admissions. And the single biggest mistake I see relocating parents make, again and again, is treating school choice as an afterthought rather than a starting point.
If you are planning a move to a new city with children of primary or secondary school age, this piece is for you. I want to share what I have learned, and give you a framework for thinking about one of the most important decisions you will make.
The question every relocating parent asks me
"Should we choose the school first and then find a house near it, or find the area we want to live in and then figure out the schools?"
It sounds like a chicken-and-egg question. In reality, for most families, the answer is clear: start with the school.
Here is why.
School catchment areas are not what most people think they are
Most parents have a rough idea that living near a good school helps your chances of getting in. What they do not realise is how precise, and how unforgiving, that relationship can be.
In popular areas, the difference between being offered a place and being turned away can come down to a few hundred metres. I have seen families buy a house in good faith, believing they were well within range of their chosen school, only to find they were just outside the last distance offered that year.
The tricky part is that catchment distances change every year. They depend on how many siblings apply, how many children are in that year's cohort, and how many families further away decide to apply. A school that admitted children from up to a mile away one year might tighten to half a mile the next.
This is why looking at the trend over several years matters far more than looking at a single year's figure. And it is why the School Guide admission likelihood heat maps, built from government census data, give you a much more reliable picture than a single distance figure published by a council.
What "last distance offered" actually means
Every year, after school places are allocated, councils publish the distance of the last child who was offered a place under the distance criterion. This figure, often called the "last distance offered," is one of the most useful pieces of data available to relocating parents.
If the last distance offered at your chosen school was 0.9 miles last year, you know roughly what kind of proximity you need. But you also need to ask: was that year typical? Has the school been getting more popular? How many places went to siblings, reducing the number available on distance?
These are the questions I dig into for every family I work with, and the answers are rarely simple.
The faith school misconception that catches families out
If a school you are interested in is a Church of England or Roman Catholic school, do not assume the old rules still apply.
Many parents still believe that faith schools require church attendance or baptism certificates. In a significant number of cases, that is no longer true.
Schools that converted to academy status, particularly since 2018, have in many cases dropped faith criteria from their admissions policies entirely. They may retain a strong Christian ethos and hold collective worship, but admission is now awarded on distance alone.
I come across this regularly in my consultancy work. A family rules out a school because they are not churchgoing, not realising that the faith barrier they were worried about has not applied for years. In some cases, that misconception has been quietly suppressing demand, making the school fractionally easier to get into than its reputation suggests.
Always check the current admissions policy, not the one you remember hearing about. And always check what year any change came into effect.
State versus independent: a question about more than money
Many relocating families use a move as a natural moment to reconsider whether they want the state or independent route.
It is a legitimate question. And the honest answer is that it depends enormously on where you are moving from and where you are moving to.
Here is something that often surprises parents moving from Oxford or London: **the culture around academic pressure in primary schools varies enormously by area.**
In parts of Oxford, for example, the state primary culture in sought-after areas is shaped by the fact that a significant proportion of children are being tutored and prepared for independent school entrance examinations at eleven or thirteen. There are no grammar schools in Oxfordshire, but the pressure is real. It is simply channelled into private school entrance tests rather than the eleven-plus.
Move to Bath, and the picture is noticeably different. Bath has no grammar schools either, but the state primary culture is considerably less pressured. Children are not being academically drilled in most state primaries. The expectation is a happy, well-rounded education with strong results, rather than an exam factory.
Neither is right or wrong. But knowing which environment suits your family, and which one you are actually buying into when you choose a house in a particular postcode, is exactly the kind of intelligence that makes a real difference to your decision.
The sibling factor: a planning point most families miss
If you have more than one child, school choice becomes a sequencing puzzle.
Most schools give siblings of current pupils high priority in their oversubscription criteria, often second only to looked-after children. This means that if your older child secures a place at a school, your younger child has a strong claim to follow.
But the reverse is also true. If you choose a school for your first child that turns out to be difficult for subsequent children to access (perhaps because you have since moved, or because the school has become more competitive), you may face a situation where your children end up at different schools.
When I work with families who have more than one child, I always map out the sibling implications alongside the immediate admissions picture. It is one of those things that seems obvious in retrospect but is easy to overlook when you are focused on getting child one into a good school.
How I approach school research for relocating families
When a family comes to me planning a move to a new city, here is broadly how I think about it.
First, I get clear on priorities. Are they trying to stay in the state sector, or is independent on the table? Is there a particular ethos they are looking for? Are there any special educational needs to factor in? Is community feel important, or are results the primary driver?
Then I look at the data. I use School Guide heat maps, official last distance offered figures from local authority admissions booklets, oversubscription trends across multiple years, Ofsted reports, KS2 and GCSE results, and secondary destination data (where available) to build a picture of each school. I always refer to our School Guide League Tables as we score schools on a range of data to give a snapshot of performance in the last canademic year.
Then I add the vital colour. Data tells you what a school achieves. It does not tell you what it feels like. For that I draw on parent reviews, Mumsnet threads, local intelligence, and thirteen years of experience in this sector. Sometimes those sources reveal things the official data does not.
Finally, I map all of this to the property question. Which streets or postcodes sit comfortably within a school's likely admission zone? Where does the risk increase? Are there areas where a family could access two or three strong schools from the same address, giving them flexibility?
The result is a picture that most parents simply cannot build themselves in the time available when they are also managing a house move, a job change, and everything else a relocation involves. If you would like that kind of research done for your family, find out more about the School Guide consultancy service.
The timing question: when should you start?
Earlier than you think.
Primary school applications in England close in January each year for September entry. If you are moving in the autumn and your child is due to start school the following September, you will need to apply using your new address. If you have not completed the move in time, you may be applying from the wrong address, which can significantly affect your chances.
For families with children approaching secondary school age, the October deadline for secondary applications is similarly unforgiving.
But the planning horizon is actually much longer than the application deadline. The decisions you make about which area to move to, which street to buy on, which school to aim for, ideally need to be made months before you submit an application. The earlier you have a clear picture, the more options you have.
A note on preschool as a community gateway
One thing I mention to families with very young children: preschool and nursery are often underestimated as community entry points.
In a city where you do not know anyone, a good nursery or preschool does a lot of the social work of helping your family put down roots. You meet other parents who will likely be applying to the same primary schools. You begin to get a feel for the area and the local parent networks.
It does not directly affect primary school admissions in most cases. But it matters for the family's experience of settling in. If community is a priority for you, choosing a preschool carefully is worth the time.
Ready to get expert help with your move?
If you are relocating to a new city and want a clear, data-backed picture of your school options before you commit to a house, I would love to help.
My School Guide consultancy service gives you two hours of focused, expert advice including a bespoke written report covering catchment data, admissions trends, Ofsted analysis, and plain-English recommendations tailored to your family's situation and your target area.
Book your free 15-minute introductory call here
Or if you are ready to go ahead: book the full 60-minute consultation
About Victoria Bond
Victoria Bond is the founder and CEO of School Guide, the UK's leading independent school data website, trusted by over 20 million parents. She set up School Guide in 2013 after navigating the school system herself as a parent and finding the information was scattered, confusing, and hard to trust. She has worked with the Department for Education since 2015, is an accredited researcher with the Office for National Statistics, and is a former governor of a Sunday Times Primary School of the Year. She now offers one-to-one consultancy to families navigating school choice across England, combining thirteen years of data expertise with the lived experience of a parent who has been through it herself.
Find out more about the School Guide consultancy service
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Should I choose a school before buying a house when moving to a new city?
In most cases, yes. School catchment areas can be very tight, and the difference between being offered a place and being turned away can come down to a few hundred metres. If a particular school is important to your family, it is much safer to identify which streets or postcodes sit within a realistic admission zone before you commit to a property.
Q: How do I find out the catchment area for a school in a city I am moving to?
The best starting point is the local authority's annual admissions booklet, which publishes the last distance offered for each school in the previous year's round. School Guide's admission likelihood heat maps, built from national census data, also give you a visual picture of where pupils currently attending each school live. Always cross-reference both sources and look at trends across at least three years rather than relying on a single year's figure.
Q: Do faith schools require you to be religious to get in?
Not necessarily. Many Church of England schools that converted to academy status have removed faith criteria from their admissions policies entirely. Admission is now awarded on distance alone, regardless of church attendance or baptism. Always check the current admissions policy for the specific school and the year it applies to, rather than relying on what you may have heard previously.
Q: How far in advance should I start researching schools before a move?
As early as possible. Primary school applications in England close in January each year. If your child is due to start school in September, you will need to apply using your new address, which means your move ideally needs to be completed before the January deadline. But the research and property decisions that feed into that application should ideally begin six to twelve months earlier.
Q: What is the difference between a school's catchment area and its last distance offered?
A catchment area is a defined geographic boundary that a school uses to determine priority. Last distance offered is the distance of the furthest child who was admitted in a given year under the distance criterion. Not all schools have formal catchment boundaries. Many admit children purely on proximity, and the last distance offered figure is the key planning data in those cases.
Q: What is the sibling rule in school admissions?
Most schools give priority to siblings of children already on roll, typically second only to looked-after children. This means that once one child is admitted to a school, subsequent siblings usually have a strong claim to follow. For families with more than one child, factoring in sibling priority when choosing a school for the first child is an important planning consideration.
Q: Is independent school better than state school for primary age children?
There is no single answer to this. The right choice depends on your child, your priorities, your budget, and critically, the specific schools available in your area. What matters most is finding a school where your child will be happy, stretched appropriately, and well supported. In some areas, the best option is a state school. In others, an independent prep offers something distinctive that suits a particular child. The most useful thing you can do is understand both options in your specific area, with accurate data, before making a decision.
Q: Can I get expert help choosing a school when relocating to a new city?
Yes. School Guide offers a bespoke one-to-one consultancy service for families navigating school choice, including families relocating to a new area. The service includes a 15-minute introductory call, a 60-minute deep-dive Zoom, and a written report covering catchment data, admissions analysis, Ofsted summaries, and tailored recommendations. Find out more here.
