Methodology

Everything on SchoolScores comes from data the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted publish for reuse. We clean and join it; we don't add opinions or invent scores.

Sources

School details, results and census data are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

When a school changes

When a school becomes an academy or joins a new trust it gets a new unique reference number (URN). We link each school to its earlier URNs using DfE's records, so its page shows the full history. If the latest inspection or results were for the school before it changed, the page says so. Old addresses redirect to the current page.

Missing and hidden figures

DfE hides some figures, usually because so few pupils were involved that individuals could be identified. We show these as "Not published" with the reason, never as zero. Where fewer than 10 pupils took a test we flag the result as based on a small group.

Progress 8 and key stage 2 progress scores aren't shown. DfE didn't publish them for recent years because national tests were cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

Local and England averages

For results, local authority and England averages are the figures DfE publishes, and England means state-funded schools. For census and absence, DfE publishes England figures by phase; the local authority figures are our own pupil-weighted averages of schools of the same phase, and pages label them as such.

A level grades and subjects

The share of A level exams graded A* or A (and A* to B) is worked out from DfE's counts of exams at each grade, across every A level a school's students took. Subject tables show every A level the school entered in the latest year. DfE hides grades for a subject with fewer than 6 exams at a school, so we list those subjects by name only. England figures, overall and by subject, are for state-funded schools and colleges: overall, DfE's national count minus independent schools; by subject, summed from state-funded schools and colleges, and not shown where fewer than 100 of their exams were published. Council figures are summed from the council's state-funded schools.

Independent schools

We show A level results for independent schools, but not GCSE or primary results. Many independent schools take IGCSEs, which DfE's GCSE figures don't count, so their published figures can be far below pupils' real results. A levels are counted in full. The IB Diploma and Pre-U aren't A levels, so a school that mainly offers those shows few or no A level results. DfE doesn't publish where independent school students go after sixth form, and ISI doesn't publish its inspection judgements as data.

Pupil numbers over time

The trend on a school's Pupils card uses DfE's January school census from the performance tables (2019, then 2021 to 2025; there was no 2020 file), plus the latest January count from Get Information about Schools. The England change is for all state-funded schools of the same phase over the years DfE has published. "Room for" is the school's capacity as recorded in Get Information about Schools.

Parent views

Ofsted publishes Parent View survey results for schools with at least 10 responses. We show each school's most recent survey period. "Agree" includes strongly agree. Questions about bullying, concerns and special educational needs only count parents they applied to, and we hide them when fewer than 10 parents answered. Ofsted changed the questions in November 2025, so we don't compare answers across the two versions. Parents choose whether to respond, so results may not represent all families.

How a school compares: the coloured scales

Some figures on a school page have a scale showing where the school sits, first in its town and then in England. The scale runs from lower on the left to higher on the right, and the dot marks the school. The scale is split into thirds, and the third the school falls in is coloured: green for the top third, amber for the middle and red for the bottom. The words above each scale say the same thing, so the colour is never the only clue.

Schools are only compared with state-funded mainstream schools of the same phase: primary with primary, and secondary with secondary, all-through schools and sixth form colleges. Independent schools, special schools and alternative provision aren't compared. The town is the school's town page when at least 3 comparable schools there have the figure; otherwise it's the council area. For exam results we use the latest year only and leave out schools where fewer than 10 pupils took the exams, so a position here can differ from the "best schools" lists, which average up to three years. Parent View answers are compared only with schools that used the same version of the survey, and only where at least 10 parents answered the question. First-choice applications per place get a plain blue scale with no colours, because more applications isn't better or worse; it just means more families wanted a place.

Where schools have exactly the same figure, they share a position ("joint 2nd"). Positions are counted from published figures only; we don't combine measures into a score.

Staff and behaviour

Pupils per teacher and pupils per adult come from DfE's school workforce census. Teacher turnover is the share of a school's teachers (full-time equivalent) who weren't at the school the following year; we only show it for schools with at least 5 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the council and England comparisons are our own calculations. Suspension and exclusion rates, and their council and England comparisons, are published by DfE.

Ofsted formats

Schools inspected before September 2024 have a single overall grade. From September 2024 to November 2025 Ofsted graded areas separately with no overall grade. Since 10 November 2025 inspections produce report cards that grade up to eight areas on a five-point scale, plus safeguarding as met or not met. Each school page shows its latest inspection in the format it was given.

"Best schools" lists

• Ranked by the percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2, averaged over up to the last three years and weighted by the number of pupils each year.
• Ranked by the percentage of pupils achieving grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE, averaged over up to the last three years and weighted by the number of pupils each year.
• Ranked by average points per A level entry (A* = 60, A = 50, B = 40, C = 30, D = 20, E = 10), averaged over up to the last three years and weighted by the number of A level students each year.

Only years with at least 10 pupils count, and a school needs at least one such year to be ranked. Independent schools, special schools and alternative provision are not ranked because their results aren't comparable. Ofsted outcomes are shown alongside but are not part of the ranking.

The England-wide top 100 lists use the same rules and do rank independent schools, but only on A levels and IB: many take IGCSEs, which DfE's GCSE figures don't count. Sixth forms there are ranked by average points per entry across all academic qualifications (A levels, the IB Diploma, Pre-U and others on DfE's points scale), so IB schools are included and schools offering both are counted in full. The grammar school list ranks GCSEs by Attainment 8 rather than grade 5 or above in English and maths, because almost every grammar school scores 95% or more on that. A school counts as a boarding school if Get Information about Schools records it as one. There is no official source of fees by school, so fees aren't shown.

Summary sentences on each page are templates filled with these figures. Nothing is written by an AI model.

Distance

Distances are straight lines from the school's registered location. They aren't walking distances and aren't catchment areas; admissions criteria differ by school.