The Good Schools Guide
About

Review process

Our writers are experts at getting under the skin of a school to ensure we give parents a truly candid insider’s guide that you won’t get anywhere else.
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How do we choose and review schools? 

We look for great schools, state or independent, that consistently do their very best for pupils. Our writers, based all over the world, tell us about schools in their areas we should review. We also welcome suggestions from members of the public. Then the work starts! Each school is researched in depth by our highly experienced senior editorial team and, if they make the cut, the process is as follows…

Step-by-step

We choose a school

What makes a good school? We know that schools are about so much more than exam results and league table positions, so we look at all aspects of provision including academic, pastoral care and extracurricular.

We do our research

Prior to any school visit we do our homework! We check out things like catchment areas, bus routes, local demographics, exam and other performance data and leavers’ destinations. 

We visit a school

We spend as much time as we can in the schools we visit – usually a full day. We tour the facilities, sit in on lessons, interview the head and other key staff members, eat lunch and ask lots and lots of questions. 

We speak with pupils and parents

We love chatting to pupils during our visits – their insights are invaluable to our reviews. We also speak to as many parents as we can to find out what a school does well and not so well (no school is perfect). 

We publish our review

After hours of writing, editing and polishing, finished reviews are sent to schools for fact checking before going live on our website. Some may not always like what we say but we are writing for parents, not school marketing departments! 

Recently reviewed schools

What makes us different?

We know about all types of schools

State, independent, international, online schools and schools for children with SEND. We appraise them all through the lens of a prospective parent. 

We've always been independent

Schools cannot choose to be included in – or excluded from – The Good Schools Guide. Our reviews are entirely free from commercial considerations. No school can pay to be in our good books.

We’ve been doing this since 1986

For almost 40 years, we’ve helped parents with every aspect of choosing the best education for their children. We have information on over 30,000 schools, with 1,600 reviews of the best UK and international schools.

We provide expert advice

Our education consultants all visit and review schools for The Good Schools Guide. They are specialists in all aspects of schooling, from state education and admissions appeals to SEND; from boarding schools to scholarships and bursaries.

We collect exclusive school data

We love data. We pull together all the available data for every school in the UK and, for the schools we review, we collect extra information that you won’t find anywhere else. 

We have unrivalled SEND knowledge

Our SEND writers and consultants are unmatched in their understanding of educating children with additional needs. Their empathy and expertise will guide you through every aspect of this challenging landscape.