About School Signal

Helping parents find and compare UK schools with confidence.

Our mission

Every parent deserves easy access to clear, reliable information about schools in their area. School Signal brings together data from Ofsted, the Department for Education, and other official sources so you can search, compare, and understand school performance without trawling through government spreadsheets.

We built School Signal because choosing a school is one of the most important decisions a family makes - and the information to make that decision well should be free and easy to find.

Our data sources

We aggregate data from multiple official government sources. All data is refreshed automatically and checked daily for accuracy and completeness.

Ofsted

Inspection ratings, dates and report links for all state-funded schools

DfE Performance Tables

KS2 SATs, GCSE, A-Level results and Progress 8 scores

Get Information About Schools (GIAS)

School details, contacts, age ranges, pupil numbers and governance

ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate)

Inspection reports for independent and private schools

Ofsted Childcare Register

Registered childminders, nurseries and after-school clubs

NaPTAN

Bus stops and transport access points near schools

MHCLG Housing Data

House prices and housing supply data for demand forecasting

DfE Absence & Workforce

Absence rates, suspensions, teacher qualifications and ratios

How we work

30,000+ schools

Every state-funded and independent school in England, with data on inspections, results and admissions

Updated daily

Automated ingestion checks for new Ofsted reports, school openings, closures and data releases

Official sources only

We only use publicly available government data - no scraped or user-generated content for school ratings

Built for parents

Designed around what parents actually need to know, not what looks impressive in a data table

Our methodology

School Signal presents official data as published by government bodies. We do not create our own school rankings or composite scores. Where we calculate derived metrics (such as estimated catchment areas), we explain the methodology on the relevant page and clearly label them as estimates.

Catchment radius estimates are based on the average distance to the 5 nearest same-phase schools, halved. This gives a reasonable approximation but should not be treated as an official boundary - always check with the school or local authority for definitive admissions information.

Get in touch

Have a question, spotted an error, or want to suggest a feature? Email us at [email protected].