The rare double: postcode areas where both the primaries AND the secondaries are Good
The hardest question for a family planning a move is the same every time: "Will it work for both phases?" A great primary doesn't help if the only local secondary is a 40-minute commute. A great secondary near the average primary leaves a Year 6 family scrambling.
So we asked the dataset: which postcode areas in England have multiple Good-or-better primaries AND multiple Good-or-better secondaries within the same first-half postcode? That tightens the search to areas where you'd realistically be in catchment for several of each.
Top 30 double-good postcode areas
These aren't necessarily the best areas — they're the areas where you have the most flexibility. A postcode with one Outstanding primary is brilliant if you live within its catchment, terrible if you don't. A postcode with multiple Good+ schools at each phase means you have options.
| Postcode area | Centred on | Good+ primaries | Good+ secondaries |
|---|---|---|---|
| CR0 | Croydon | 35 | 6 |
| NG5 | Nottingham | 29 | 6 |
| BL3 | Bolton | 25 | 5 |
| PR2 | Preston | 26 | 4 |
| LE4 | Leicester | 24 | 6 |
| E17 | London | 22 | 7 |
| NG16 | Nottingham | 25 | 4 |
| PR3 | Preston | 27 | 2 |
| BB2 | Blackburn | 23 | 5 |
| PR4 | Preston | 26 | 2 |
| LE2 | Leicester | 22 | 6 |
| BS16 | Bristol | 24 | 3 |
| PR1 | Preston | 21 | 6 |
| LE5 | Leicester | 21 | 6 |
| CV6 | Coventry | 22 | 3 |
| BA2 | Bath | 21 | 4 |
| DE4 | Matlock | 23 | 2 |
| PR7 | Chorley | 21 | 4 |
| BB1 | Blackburn | 23 | 2 |
| LE67 | Coalville | 23 | 2 |
| LE3 | Leicester | 20 | 5 |
| NN3 | Northampton | 20 | 5 |
| NG9 | Nottingham | 21 | 4 |
| ST5 | Newcastle | 21 | 4 |
| E1 | London | 19 | 5 |
| SL6 | Maidenhead | 19 | 5 |
| DE55 | Alfreton | 20 | 4 |
| GL2 | Gloucester | 21 | 3 |
| BB5 | Accrington | 21 | 3 |
| LE12 | Loughborough | 22 | 2 |
How to use this list
- Don't just pick the top row. CR0 has the most schools, but it might be the wrong region or the wrong type of area entirely. Treat the table as a long shortlist, not a ranking.
- Cross-reference with last-distance-offered. "Good+" is a quality bar; "we'd actually get in" is a separate question. A postcode area can contain 20 Good schools and you can still end up with none of them.
- Filter by SEN / faith / single-sex if it matters. Our postcode-area count above is unfiltered. If your child needs specialist SEN provision, your real list is much shorter.
See the full filterable map of double-good areas
Pro maps all 697 double-good postcode areas with last-distance-offered, Outstanding vs Good breakdown, sibling-rule density and the SchoolsNearMe trajectory score per school. Plus financial-warning flags so you don't move into a school that's about to close.
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