We are The Good Schools Guide

What makes us unique?

Unlike other school guides, we are fiercely unbiased. Schools cannot pay to be included in – or excluded from – The Good Schools Guide. Decisions about which schools we review and what we write about them are entirely free from commercial considerations.

We write about all types of schools – state, private, senior, junior, online schools and schools for children with special needs. We appraise them all with the same critical eye through the lens of a prospective parent.

The company has evolved and grown over the 40 years since two working mothers came up with The Good Schools Guide, but our ethos hasn’t changed. Now, as then, parents come to us to help them find the very best schools for their children.

Our reviews

We review schools all over the world and look for the great ones that consistently do their very best for all kinds of pupils. In 1986 we published the first edition of The Good Schools Guide, reviewing 253 UK schools. Currently, we publish over 1,300 reviews of UK schools - every one of which is updated annually. Along with nearly 300 international school reviews covering 40 countries across the globe, the list is continually growing. 

Reviewing schools The Good Schools way is no mean feat. Unlike other publications, we say exactly what we think of the school, and our process leaves no stone unturned, no headteacher ungrilled and no school lunch unsampled. We get unfettered access to the inner workings of schools which means our review paints a perfect portrait of what it’s really like to go there. 

Interested in learning more? Read about our review process or watch our video here.

Our education consultancy

When we launched the first edition of The Good Schools Guide in 1986, we soon realised that many of the parents reading our reviews needed more personal help deciding how to choose a school. Is this the right school for our child? Can this school support my child’s additional needs? Will my child truly be happy here? We were keen to help. 

In 2010 we launched our consultancy and since then we’ve helped generations of parents. We provide personal advice and support tailored to each family’s particular needs, however complex the circumstances. As we have built experience over so many years, we’ve worked with people from all walks of life and helped with a plethora of different situations. We’d love to help you too.

Who are we?

Like our founders before us, we are all parents with a keen interest in education. We come from a broad range of backgrounds – from the law and teaching to the media and communications – but what we all have in common is that we know how hard it can be to make the right choices for our children as they embark on their educational journey. 

Our writers and consultants are specialists in a number of areas. We know our own geographical regions inside and out; the state schools, grammars, independent schools, preps, boarding schools and options for children with special educational needs. Across the globe we have experts in different curricula, moving countries, international schools and university admissions. We know the best tutor agencies across the UK and can advise on applying for scholarships and bursaries or state school appeals. We love solving your educational dilemmas and above all else, we know schools. Especially the good ones. 

Our education articles

Making sense of the issues families face when weighing up education options has always been the driving force behind The Guide. We may have made our name with school reviews but our website is packed with content exploring the finer details of your child’s journey through education, from admissions policies to parents’ evenings, international relocation to choosing a tutor. Whether you’re looking for objective information or expert opinion we’ve got it all; concise, accessible and up to date.