Recent UK policy has emphasised both the development of socially mixed communities and the creation of balanced school intakes. In this paper, we use a case study of an area of mixed tenure in eastern England to explore policy in practice and the extent to which mechanisms of segregation impact on both the creation of socially mixed neighbourhoods and socially mixed schools. We draw on parent and pupil views of schools, combined with local authority data and geo-demographic classification, to explore the background to school destinations. Overall, we find different expectations underlying the two strands of policy and show how a more detailed understanding of context helps those supporting or judging schools.