Guides for parents

Short, plain-English guides to help you make sense of Ofsted grades and choose a school with confidence.

• How to read the new Ofsted report cards

  Ofsted replaced single overall grades with report cards in 2024. What they grade, how the scale works, and why you cannot compare them directly with older grades.

• Choosing a primary school in England: a practical guide

  Building a realistic shortlist, reading Ofsted carefully, understanding catchment and admissions, and the questions worth asking on a school visit.

• Choosing a secondary school in England: a practical guide

  How secondary differs from primary: the move up from Year 6, banding and aptitude admissions, subject options and GCSEs, sixth form, and open-evening questions.

• School admissions explained: how to apply, deadlines and preferences

  Where to find each school’s admission criteria, when and how to apply, what offer day means, how equal-preference works in England, and how Scotland and Wales differ.

• School catchment areas: how to check yours and judge your chances

  How to check a school’s catchment and whether your home is in range: how admission distance is calculated (usually straight-line), how siblings count, why last year’s cut-off is only a guide, and where to get the official answer.

• Moving house for schools: how to weigh it up

  How admissions timing, shifting catchments and the risks of renting-to-qualify really work when you are thinking of moving house to get into a school in England.

• What to do if you don’t get your first-choice school

  Why to accept the offered place (with the official GOV.UK guidance), how waiting lists and appeals work and their timeline, and in-year admissions. England-focused.

• Getting to school: distance, transport, parking, safety and funded travel

  Realistic distances, the pros and cons of driving, parking, public transport cost and reliability, cycling, safety, funded travel, and how the school run changes with age.

• Reading the local context: area deprivation and demand

  How to read the neighbourhood context shown alongside schools — area deprivation and how many families apply — fairly, and what each does and does not tell you about a school.

• Starting school and moving up to secondary: easing the transition

  How to help children settle when starting Reception and when moving up to secondary school in England — what changes, what helps in the run-up, and what to expect.

• Term dates and the school day in England: what to expect

  How the school year and school day are structured in England — the three terms and holidays, INSET training days, a typical day by age, wraparound care, and why dates vary between schools.

• Grammar schools and the 11-plus explained

  What grammar schools are, how the 11-plus works, who sets the tests (GL and CEM), how selection decides who gets in, where selective schools exist, and how to decide whether to put your child in for the test.

• What do Ofsted report cards mean for my child?

  How to use the new Ofsted report cards when choosing a school — what the area grades mean in practice, whether to rule a school out, and what an inspection can and cannot tell you about your child’s experience.

• How to compare two schools: a parent’s checklist

  A practical side-by-side checklist for comparing two schools fairly — results, Ofsted, the journey, admission chances, intake and fit — and the common traps to avoid.

• Choosing a school for a child with SEN or an EHC plan

  The types of SEND provision (mainstream, resourced provision, special schools), how admissions differ with an EHC plan, what the data does and does not tell you, and the questions to ask the SENCo.

• School costs and the help available

  What state school really costs — uniform, meals, trips — and the help available: free school meals, pupil premium, uniform grants and more, with where to apply.

• Faith schools and how their admissions work

  What faith schools are, whether you need to be religious to apply, how faith admission criteria and oversubscription work, and how to weigh a faith school up — explained even-handedly.

• The data behind Good School Finder

  What data we use to compare schools, where each dataset comes from (Ofsted, DfE, ONS — all Open Government Licence), and the national picture in charts: how ratings, disadvantage, class sizes and progress are distributed across England’s schools.