SchoolFacts.uk

Methodology

The figures SchoolFacts computes. Sources update monthly (GIAS, Ofsted), yearly (DfE results and census) and each spring (admissions, plus Freedom of Information replies as they arrive).

Demand bands

First-choice applications per place, from the DfE's applications and offers for September 2026 entry, where a school offered at least five places. 1.5 or more is heavily oversubscribed, above 1 oversubscribed, 0.85 to 1 roughly balanced, below 0.85 usually has places.

Ofsted grades

Each page states which Ofsted system a grade comes from. Report cards and older overall grades appear as published. Two labels are computed by SchoolFacts and are not Ofsted's own grade: for inspections from September 2024 to November 2025, which gave no overall grade, the lowest of the four judgements, marked as a SchoolFacts estimate; and where later visits gave no grade, the last published grade with its year, such as "Good (2019)".

Admissions cutoffs

From council admissions publications and our FOI requests. A distance counts as a cutoff only where the source shows someone was refused. A school that placed every applicant has no cutoff, and we never compute an inside-or-outside verdict for one. A figure several times the school's other years or comparable schools, and more than 3 km beyond them, is withheld.

Similar schools

Each mainstream school is matched to the twelve in England with the closest intake on six measures: size, free school meals (six years), English as an additional language, EHC plans, SEN support and area deprivation. Grammar schools are matched only with grammar schools. Special schools and alternative provision are not matched.

Neighbourhood figures

These describe the area, not the pupils: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km (2 km where fewer than ten homes sold), Census 2021, the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 and DfT road casualties.

How to read a school page

The notes behind each section of a school page, in the order the page shows them.

Admissions demand

Applications and offers on national offer day, from the DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named the school as their first choice than there were places. First choices per place is not a ranking and not a measure of quality: places are allocated by each school's own criteria, with distance often the last tie-breaker.

Admissions cutoff distances

Cutoff distances are as the local authority (or the school, where it is its own admissions authority) published them, in the unit and with the measuring method it states. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first, so the distance is how far the last child admitted on distance lived, not a catchment boundary. Cutoffs move from year to year with the number and spread of applicants.

Exam results

Results come from the DfE performance tables for the year named on the page. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts. Special schools are shown without England averages, because those are dominated by mainstream schools.

Ofsted inspection history

From Ofsted's management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. Since November 2025 Ofsted inspects under a report-card system; our guide to Ofsted report cards explains how the two systems differ.

Staffing

From the DfE School Workforce Census, taken each November. The pupil ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers. Retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. The vacancy rate is full-time vacant teaching posts as a share of teachers in post, and the temporary rate the posts filled on a contract of at least one term but under a year. Sickness absence is the share of teachers who took any, and the average days lost by those who did, as reported in the census. Pay is the mean salary of full-time qualified teachers; the DfE does not publish a usable median per school. England comparators are the DfE's own figures for the same kind of school.

Spending

Total expenditure divided by pupils, from the school's own finance return: the Consistent Financial Reporting return for council-maintained schools and the Academies Accounts Return for academies (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking). Higher spending is not a measure of quality; it often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Shares of spending are each category over total expenditure, against the median share for schools of the same phase in the same year. The revenue reserve and in-year balance are as the return reports them.

Attendance

Absence from the DfE's pupil absence statistics, for the terms named on the page: the autumn term at first, then the autumn and spring terms once the DfE publishes them. Overall absence is the share of sessions missed; persistent absence the share of pupils missing 10% or more. Lower is better.

Suspensions and exclusions

From the DfE's suspensions and permanent exclusions statistics, by academic year. Rates are per 100 pupils on roll, compared with all schools of the same phase in England and in the local authority. A single pupil can be suspended more than once, so the suspension rate counts suspensions, not pupils.

Pupils by ethnicity

From the January school census (DfE, schools, pupils and their characteristics), using the DfE's ethnic groups. Groups under 1% are added together. The local authority and England shares are for schools of the same phase.

The area around a school

Census 2021 (ONS) for the lower layer super output area the school stands in, and its English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) deciles: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on. These figures describe the area, not the pupils: children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further.

What homes cost nearby

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line), or 2 km where fewer than ten homes sold, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete.

Roads around a school

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). “Child pedestrians” counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; “school-run times” means weekdays 07:30 to 09:00 and 15:00 to 16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that it is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban or rural schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

Schools with a similar intake

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. The twelve are the evidence behind the comparison, not a shortlist.

Sources