Finding a school

List of schools

You can search the directory of educational establishments within North Yorkshire on the government website.

How to choose a school

You may already have a school in mind, but remember that you need to list several preferences on your application form. Make sure you have read our advice about preferencing before you fill in the form. 

We recommend that you:

• try to visit schools you are interested, in or attend an open day
• view the school's website, prospectus or brochure
• be aware that different types of schools have different values, teaching methods and admissions policies - find out more about the different types of school in our glossary 
• search for the school's Ofsted reports on the Ofsted website by postcode, town or area - most schools receive regular visits by inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, or Ofsted, which publishes regular inspection reports online
• look at the school's Special Educational Needs Information Report if your child has special education needs or disabilities - this explains their ethos and approach to meeting the needs of children with SEND - you can find this on the school’s own website, where you will also find lots of other useful information
• think about how you are going to get your child to school including, the availability and cost of school transport especially if you preference a school that is not the nearest school to your address

Finding your nearest school

Please note that mapping data which informs the nearest school finder is updated on a yearly basis to reflect new housing developments and other identified and approved changes.

The mapping data was updated on Thursday 11 September 2025.

All applications made from Friday 12 September 2025 will be later assessed using the find your nearest school 2025 to 2026 data.

Find your nearest school 2025 to 2026

We have more advice about choosing a school for parents of children with SEND in our SEND local offer page.

Schools and catchment area map 

You can use our interactive map to find out what catchment area you live in. Remember that you may not be in the catchment area for the school that is nearest to you in a straight line, or 'as the crow flies'.

You can either type your address in the search bar, or use the 'zoom' function and then click on the map to see catchment areas that apply. You can select primary or secondary catchments and locations in the map layers.

Map: all schools and catchment areas

Our maps are for reference only.

What is a catchment area? 

A catchment area is an area around a single school. The catchment school is allocated by the local authority from the geographical area your address is in. Your catchment school is determined by your home address, and not the primary school your child attends.

Catchment area is often used as an oversubscription criteria in the admission arrangements for schools. For oversubscribed maintained schools, you can find out more about the oversubscription criteria in our school admission policies and statistics page.

Please note: other types of schools may have their own priorities for oversubscription criteria. Please check the school's admission policy published on their website.

If you look at our catchment area map, you might see that your home is in two or more catchment areas. Please contact the school admissions team if you need more information about your catchment area.