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 stores official open data in a local SQLite catalogue (no hosted database). Establishment records come from the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) (GIAS) dataset for England, published by the Department for Education.
Ofsted inspections
Latest inspection outcomes come from Ofsted monthly management information. Where a school has been inspected under the new report-card framework we show those grades; otherwise we show the latest OEIF overall effectiveness grades. We do not invent ratings.
Performance tables
School-level Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 measures come from DfE school and college performance tables (Explore Education Statistics). Current import covers academic year 2023/24, including Attainment 8, Progress 8, English & maths thresholds, and KS2 reading/writing/maths expected standards. See also Key stage 2 attainment. Suppressed values are omitted.
Pupil absence
Overall, authorised, unauthorised, persistent (10%+) and severe (50%+) absence rates come from DfE pupil absence in schools in England. We import the latest full academic years published in the school-level dataset (currently 2021/22–2023/24).
Admissions demand
Preference and offer counts come from the DfE DfE primary and secondary school applications and offers school-level file. We show how many families listed a school as their 1st preference compared with offers made on national offer day (March for secondary, April for primary).
The demand ratio (1st preferences ÷ total offers) is published by DfE and indicates competition — not whether your child would be admitted. We do not show last-distance offered or catchment boundaries unless sourced from a council in future releases.
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 GIAS import: 2026-09-22
- 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 grades and performance figures are imported separately from GIAS and may update on different schedules.
- We do not publish subjective rankings or editorial league tables.
- Admissions demand figures do not include distance cut-offs, faith or sibling criteria, or post-offer-day changes.
Future data sources
- Key Stage 5 / 16–18 performance and destinations — DfE tables not yet imported
- Detailed pupil characteristics — beyond GIAS free school meals and SEN provision fields already shown
- Other UK nations — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland when official open data is available
Sorted figure pages
Pages under School figures sort schools in a place by a single official published measure (for example Progress 8 or overall absence). They are not editorial league tables: suppressed values are omitted and no composite “best school” score is invented.
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.