What schools serve Bury St Edmunds?

There are 51 schools in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, including Elmswell Community Primary School, Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary School, Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery, Sebert Wood Community Primary School, Barningham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School and more. You can view each school's catchment area guidance and admissions policy on catchment.school.

How many primary and secondary schools are in Bury St Edmunds?

Bury St Edmunds has 36 primary schools and 5 secondary schools. There are also 10 other schools (such as all-through or special schools) in the area. All data is sourced from the Department for Education's GIAS register.

How do I find out if my address is in a school's catchment area in Bury St Edmunds?

To check whether your address falls within a school's catchment area in Bury St Edmunds, use the postcode search tool at catchment.school. Catchment area boundaries for Bury St Edmunds schools are set by Suffolk and reviewed each year. You can also consult the school's admissions policy or contact the Suffolk admissions team directly for the most up-to-date boundary maps.

Schools in Bury St Edmunds

Q: Who sets catchment area boundaries for schools in Bury St Edmunds?

Catchment area boundaries for schools in Bury St Edmunds are set by Suffolk as the admissions authority. Community and voluntary-controlled schools follow the council's published admissions policy, while academies and voluntary-aided schools may set their own. Boundaries are reviewed annually and published each September for the following academic year.

Reviewed by the catchment.school editorial team · Last updated 15 March 2026

Bury St Edmunds has 51 schools - 36 primary and 5 secondary - with admissions co-ordinated by Suffolk County Council for maintained schools. The market-town setting means catchment areas extend into surrounding villages, and distance tiebreakers can favour families located closest to each school's main entrance.

Several schools in the Bury St Edmunds area are academies or voluntary-aided, operating their own admissions criteria independently of the council's scheme. Suffolk publishes its co-ordinated admissions timetable and catchment maps each autumn ahead of the January deadline for primary and secondary applications.

School demand in Bury St Edmunds

Across the 45 schools in Bury St Edmunds with published capacity data, the average fill rate is 84%. 8 of them are currently at or above their published admission number, and at those schools catchment distance is likely to decide places at the next intake.

23 schools in Bury St Edmunds have a religious character, so faith criteria sit alongside catchment distance in their admissions policies.

31 of the schools in Bury St Edmunds are academies that set their own admissions criteria independently of Suffolk, so check each school's policy directly rather than assuming the council default applies.

28 of the schools in Bury St Edmunds have a current Ofsted rating, of which 24 are rated Good or Outstanding. Demand and catchment distance tend to be tightest at the highest-rated schools.

Primary schools in Bury St Edmunds: 4 oversubscribed (36)

Elmswell Community Primary School

Primary · Community school

Bury St Edmunds · IP30 9UE

Ages 3-11 363 pupils Capacity 420

Guildhall Feoffment Community Primary School

Primary · Community school

Bury St Edmunds · IP33 1RE

Ages 5-11 338 pupils Capacity 420

Westgate Community Primary School and Nursery

Primary · Community school

Bury St Edmunds · IP33 3JX

Ages 4-11 292 pupils Capacity 446

Sebert Wood Community Primary School

Primary · Community school

Bury St Edmunds · IP32 7EG

Ages 3-11 381 pupils Capacity 420