About our data

School data currently covers England using official GIAS records. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland may be added when official datasets are integrated.

Primary source

UKSchoolSearch.uk uses the official Get Information About Schools (GIAS) (GIAS) dataset for England. GIAS is published by the Department for Education and contains establishment records for schools and other educational settings in England.

Geographic coverage

The current release covers England only. The database is designed with a nation field so that official datasets for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can be added as separate sources in future releases.

We do not label the site as complete UK coverage unless data for all four nations has been imported and mapped.

Data freshness

• Last import: 2026-08-27
• Source version: 20260827
• Records imported: 52,488
• Source URL: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/

What the fields mean

• URN — Unique Reference Number assigned by the Department for Education.
• Establishment type / phase — Official GIAS classification of the school.
• Establishment status — Whether the school is open, closed or proposed.
• Local authority — The council area responsible for the school where applicable.
• Governance / trust — Derived from GIAS trust and establishment type fields.
• Coordinates — Converted from OSGB36 easting/northing where provided.

Limitations

• Contact details and websites are shown only where officially provided in GIAS.
• Distance calculations depend on coordinate accuracy and are approximate.
• Ofsted inspection ratings are not included in GIAS since January 2025.
• We do not publish subjective rankings or performance scores in the MVP.

Future data sources

The database includes optional structures for:

• Ofsted inspections — inspection date, judgement, report URL (separate from GIAS)
• Performance data — attainment, progress, absence and pupil characteristics when official datasets are integrated
• Other UK nations — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland when official open data is available

Disclaimer

UKSchoolSearch.uk is an independent website and is not affiliated with the UK Government, Department for Education, GIAS or Ofsted. We do not imply government endorsement.