In Delhi’s nursery admissions, the one thing a parent fully controls is the address on the form. Distance is the most heavily weighted criterion in the city’s 100-point system, and some schools put 55 to 80 of those points on it. That makes the colony you buy in a school decision years before you fill a form. Here is the South Delhi school map, what the points actually say, and the checks to run before you buy for a school.
Yes, and it is usually the single biggest factor you can influence. Private unaided schools in Delhi rank applicants for open seats — 75% of seats, after EWS, Disadvantaged Group and Children with Special Needs quotas — on a 100-point system. Each school sets its own weights, and distance from the school consistently carries the most. South Delhi Public School in Defence Colony gives 40 of 100 points to families within 3 km. Elsewhere in the city the weight goes higher: Indraprastha International in Dwarka puts 55 points on distance, and Darbari Lal DAV in Pitampura 80 points for 0–2 km. Siblings and alumni are the other big blocks, and you cannot buy those. What you can choose is the address.
Families regularly ask us to filter a search by school before they filter by colony, and it is a reasonable way to buy. The catch is that no two schools draw the circle the same way: one measures 3 km, another 12 km, and each measures it its own way. The map below is a way to shortlist colonies; a school’s own criteria sheet is the thing that decides.
SouthDelhiFloors · Interactive
Tap a school to light up the colonies nearest to it. Gold means roughly within 3 km, dim gold roughly 3–6 km — the bands most Delhi schools use when they award neighbourhood points. Straight-line distances off our own map, so treat them as indicative and check each school’s published slabs.
Schematic — not to scale. School positions are indicative of the area each sits in, not a surveyed location. Distances are straight-line from this map; schools measure by their own method.
Every school on the map, at a glance
The colonies our map puts within roughly 3 km of each school. Straight-line distances — each school measures its own way.
For entry classes — Nursery, KG and Class 1 — every recognised private unaided school in Delhi must publish its admission criteria and the points attached to each, and the Directorate of Education sets the calendar. The categories schools use are familiar: neighbourhood distance, a sibling already in the school, parent alumni status, staff wards, and a few school-specific ones. What differs is the weight.
These are real published weights, and the spread is the point:
| School | Distance | Sibling | Alumni |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Delhi Public School, Defence Colony | 40 (0–3 km), 30 (3.1–6 km), 20 (6.1–9 km), 10 (9.1 km+) | 30 | 15 father, 15 mother |
| Amity International School, Saket | 30 | 20 (with staff wards) | 30 |
| Tagore International School, East of Kailash | 50 (within 4 km or its transport area) | 10 | 10 |
| Indraprastha International School, Dwarka | 55 (0–12 km), 45 (12–15 km), 35 (15 km+) | 15 | 15 |
| Darbari Lal DAV Model School, Pitampura | 80 (0–2 km), 70 (2–5 km), 60 (5–8 km) | 10 | 10 |
Two things follow for a buyer. First, a school with a tight radius and a heavy distance weight is effectively a colony-level school: the Defence Colony example rewards 0–3 km with 40 points and drops 10 points per band after that, so a family 7 km away starts 20 points behind a neighbour. Second, a school with a wide radius barely discriminates on address: at 0–12 km, most of South Delhi scores the same, and siblings and alumni decide the outcome instead.
Not “is this school nearby?” but “how many points does this school give my address, and how many does the next applicant get?” A 4 km radius with 50 points is worth moving for. A 12 km radius with 55 points is not, because almost everyone clears it.
The cycle runs from late autumn to March, and the address on the form is the one you have when you apply. For the 2026-27 round, schools published criteria on 28 November, forms opened 4 December and closed 27 December, applicant lists went up on 9 January, points on 16 January, the first list on 23 January, a query window ran 24 January to 3 February, the second list came on 9 February, and admissions closed on 19 March. Age bands are set as on 31 March: 3–4 for Nursery, 4–5 for KG, 5–6 for Class 1, with up to a month’s relaxation at the head’s discretion. Schools may charge only a ₹25 non-refundable registration fee, and capitation fees are prohibited.
If you are buying with a school in mind, the practical deadline is not the form date. It is possession and a usable address proof before forms open, which in South Delhi means closing a purchase months earlier. Our registration process guide and the possession FAQ cover how long that really takes.
Read off the map and a pattern appears. Three clusters do most of the work:
Chanakyapuri is the outlier worth naming: Sanskriti and The British School sit inside the diplomatic enclave, so the few residential addresses near them are unusually well placed. The Chanakyapuri guide explains why that housing is so limited.
The same logic cuts the other way. A colony in the Ring Road core such as Defence Colony or South Extension sits a short drive from many schools but inside the tightest radius of only a few, which is exactly when sibling and alumni points start to decide. Compare entry prices by colony on the area-wise pricing page and see the full colony picture on our South Delhi map.
Some use straight-line distance, some road distance, some a list of named localities, and some their own bus routes. The Heritage School in Vasant Kunj, for instance, publishes its bands as named colonies rather than a radius. Read the sheet, not the map.
Weights, slabs and tie-breakers are re-published each cycle, and schools cannot use criteria the Directorate has struck down. A colony that scored well last year is not guaranteed to score well next year.
Open seats are a fraction of the intake, and at a sought-after school a large share of the top scores already carry sibling or alumni points. Distance moves you up the list; it does not clear it.
Schools ask for address proof in the parent’s name. A registry in progress, a rented flat you are about to leave, or a property in a relative’s name can all fail at the document stage.
Three kilometres on the map can be twenty minutes at 7.30 am. Drive the route at the school run hour before you decide the colony, in the direction you will actually travel.
Pick three or four schools you would genuinely send a child to. Use the map to see which colonies sit in their closest band, then look for stock there.
Get the published points table and the distance slabs for the current cycle. Work out the score your candidate address would get at each school.
Confirm whose name the proof will be in and when it will exist. Buying is not enough; the paperwork has to land before forms open.
A school-adjacent colony is not automatically dearer, and where it is, the premium is inside the lump sum. The method in our guide to corner, park-facing and main-road premiums works here too: compare closed deals on like-for-like floors.
If the school is the whole reason for the move, renting in the catchment for a cycle costs far less than buying into the wrong one. Our rent vs buy guide sets out the arithmetic.
A school catchment does not fix a title problem. Use the 21-point buying checklist before you pay anything.
Three belts stand out. The west — Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, R.K. Puram, Anand Niketan and Shanti Niketan — has the densest cluster. The Aurobindo Marg centre covers Hauz Khas, Safdarjung Development Area, Green Park and Gulmohar Park. The east runs through Greater Kailash, Kailash Colony, Chirag Enclave and Alaknanda. Chanakyapuri is a special case, with Sanskriti and The British School inside the diplomatic enclave.
It varies by school and is republished each year. South Delhi Public School in Defence Colony gives 40 of 100 points for 0–3 km, falling to 10 beyond 9 km. Tagore International in East of Kailash gives 50 within about 4 km. Elsewhere in Delhi it runs higher, up to 80 points for 0–2 km at one Pitampura school.
No. Distance points rank you; they do not admit you. Open seats are 75% of the intake after reserved categories, and many high scorers also hold sibling or alumni points, which no address can match. Proximity improves your position on the list, often decisively at a school with a tight radius.
Each school decides and publishes its method. Some use straight-line distance, some road distance, some a list of named localities, and some their own transport routes. Always use the school’s own criteria sheet rather than a mapping app.
Early enough to hold a provable address in your own name before forms open, which for the 2026-27 cycle was 4 December. In practice that means closing the purchase and completing registration and mutation months ahead, not weeks.
School access is one of several things priced into a South Delhi floor, and it is never itemised. Builder floors are sold as a single lump sum, so compare closed deals on like-for-like floors in the same block to see whether a catchment is actually carrying a premium.
Often, yes. If the school is the only reason for the move, a year or two of rent inside the catchment costs far less than buying into a colony that turns out to score poorly, and it lets you test the school run before committing.
It applies to entry-level admissions — Nursery, KG and Class 1 — in private unaided recognised schools. Admission to higher classes depends on vacancies and each school’s own process, where distance usually matters far less.
Tell us the two or three schools that matter. We will tell you which colonies sit in their closest band and what is available there now.
Sources: admission criteria and points as published for 2026-27 entry — South Delhi Public School, Defence Colony and The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj; PTI reporting on schools’ published weights via The Week, The Tribune and Business Standard; Directorate of Education schedule and age bands as reported in the same coverage. School positions on our map are indicative of the area each sits in. Admission criteria are republished every cycle and each school measures distance its own way — confirm with the school before relying on anything here.
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