School education is commonly seen in national news headlines as one of the major political debating topics. Changes in policy since the introduction of the 1988 Education Reform Act have created a quasi-competitive market within which schools now operate. The 1988 EducationRefonn Act also devolved much responsibility away from Local Authorities to individual schools. More recently, the 2007 School Admissions Code incorporated mandatory provisions |fie first time, ensuring that school oversubscription policies are implemented in", so as to not disadvantage particular sections of society. This has produced an environment where Local Authorities have less direct control over schools but more responsibility to ensure that education provision is commensurate with demand in their areas, in the face of a changing pupil population. rhis PhD thesis uses advanced spatial analysis techniques to examine the Pupil Level Annual School Census data for the Leeds study area in conjunction with pupil preference data supplied by Education Leeds.