Methodology & data sources
Transparent sourcing for every school card and area row. We aggregate open government data; we are not the Department for Education or Ofsted.
Scope
Schoolchecker.uk covers state-funded schools in England listed in GIAS. Independent schools, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are out of scope. Council and district pages may show wider local context (census, crime indicators, house prices) at the geography stated on each row.
Figures can lag the latest government release. Always confirm admissions, SEN provision, and transport with the school and your local authority before you apply.
What we do not do
- We do not publish parent reviews or a single “best school” score.
- We do not guarantee admission or imply a postcode is in catchment.
- We do not give neighbourhoods an overall score. Crime, deprivation, and school inspections are shown separately on each district page.
- We do not replace Ofsted reports or a school's own SEND information report.
Datasets
| Domain | Source | Geography | Typical refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| School identity & governance Name, address, phase, type, trust, age range, capacity, website. | GIAS / Get Information about Schools | School (URN) | Monthly (when GIAS publishes) |
| Inspection Latest graded or ungraded outcomes, inspection dates, report links. | Ofsted state-funded school outcomes | School (URN) | Monthly or when Ofsted updates MI |
| Performance & attainment KS2 and KS4 headlines where published for the school. | DfE Explore Education Statistics / performance tables | School (URN) | Annual releases (school year labelled on site) |
| Pupil characteristics FSM %, EAL %, roll where published. | Schools, pupils and their characteristics | School (URN) | Annual (2024/25 on site where shown) |
| Attendance & absence Attendance % and persistent absence %. | Pupil absence in schools in England | School (URN) | Annual / termly (autumn and spring on cards) |
| SEN SEN % and provision labels from GIAS. | Special educational needs in England | School (URN) | Annual |
| Admissions pressure (indicative) Historic demand indicator only. Not a catchment guarantee. | GIAS capacity and published roll; future: applications and offers | School (URN) | Annual when expanded |
| Local context Population, ethnicity, crime, house prices, flood, broadband. Scope shown on each row. | ONS Census 2021, IMD 2019, police/crime APIs, Land Registry, Ofcom, EA, councils | Postcode district and/or local council (LAD), labelled per metric | Varies by dataset |
| Maps & distance Straight-line miles. Not walking or driving time unless stated otherwise. | Postcodes.io, school coordinates from GIAS | Your postcode (optional) vs school | On each visit when you enter a postcode |
Missing data
A dash on a school card usually means one of: not published by DfE or Ofsted for that school; suppressed for small cohorts; not applicable (for example KS2 at a middle school); or not yet imported after an academy change of URN. We prefer a blank cell to guessing.
Ofsted area judgements may appear without a single overall grade. We show the detail line from the inspection note where available.
Distance and maps
When you enter a full postcode, distances are straight-line miles from that point to the school coordinates in GIAS. They are useful for sorting nearby options, not for predicting journey time. Route links open Google Maps with standard disclaimers.
Compare and shortlist
The shortlist and compare table run in your browser. Snapshots are taken when you add a school so compare works offline from stored fields. Downloaded CSV files are for your personal research; treat them as a point-in-time export, not an official record.
Corrections
If something looks wrong, see our contact page with the school URN, the field, and a link to the official source. We correct pipeline or display issues; we do not edit government statistics without labelling.
Data refresh log shows when sources were last checked by our pipeline.