Cheltenham Secondary School Catchment Areas Map
A map of Cheltenham showing which secondary school is nearest to each area, by straight-line distance — not an official catchment map.
Cheltenham Secondary School “Nearest School” Map
This map shades each part of Cheltenham by whichever secondary school sits closest to it in a straight line. It’s a quick way to see roughly which school serves an area — but it is not an official catchment or priority admission area map, and the shape of a zone here won’t match how Gloucestershire County Council actually allocates places.
Gloucestershire doesn’t publish fixed catchment boundaries for its secondary schools. Instead, most admissions are decided by measured distance from home to school once a place is oversubscribed, alongside criteria like siblings already attending, faith requirements for some schools, and whether the school is selective. A house a few streets from a school’s gates can still miss out to a closer applicant, and a house shown here as nearest to one school may in practice have a real-terms closer alternative once you measure by road rather than as the crow flies.
- Gloucestershire County Council: Find a School — the official tool for checking distance and admissions criteria for a specific address.
- Primary school catchment areas map — the same “nearest school” map for Cheltenham’s primary schools.
- Full list of Cheltenham schools — every school in Cheltenham, sortable by name, type and phase.
Nearest Secondary School by Area
FAQs
Why Isn't This an Official Catchment Map?
Because Gloucestershire doesn't have one. Unlike some local authorities, Gloucestershire County Council doesn't draw fixed catchment boundaries for secondary schools — it ranks applicants by measured distance once a school is oversubscribed, alongside criteria such as siblings and faith. The zones on this map are a straight-line "nearest school" approximation calculated from official school locations, not a reproduction of any council boundary.
Which Schools Are Included?
Cheltenham's secondary schools that fall within the town and its immediate edge. Schools sharing a Cheltenham postcode district but sitting in a separate village or town further out — Winchcombe School and The Cotswold Academy in Fairford — are excluded, since including them would stretch zones across open countryside rather than reflect how people actually choose between Cheltenham schools.
Where Does the Data Come From?
School names and locations come from the Department for Education's Get Information about Schools (GIAS) register, refreshed monthly. Grid references are converted from the register's Ordnance Survey National Grid coordinates.
Public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 →