Schools 101

Example

The school years

• Most children start Reception in the September after they turn 4; school is compulsory from the term after a child turns 5.
• A year group is everyone born from 1 September to 31 August. Children move up with their year, not by ability.
• Primary: Reception and Years 1 to 6 (ages 4 to 11). Some areas split it into infant (to Year 2) and junior schools.
• Secondary: Years 7 to 11 (ages 11 to 16), ending in GCSEs.
• From 16, young people in England stay in education or training until 18: a sixth form or college (A levels, T levels), or an apprenticeship.
• Nursery from 3 is optional; every 3- and 4-year-old can have 15 free hours a week.

Types of school

• All state schools are free. Community schools are run by the council, which also runs their admissions.
• Academies and free schools are state schools run by trusts funded directly by government. They follow the national curriculum loosely and set their own admissions, within the national code.
• Voluntary aided, foundation and many faith schools also set their own admissions.
• Grammar schools select by a test, the 11-plus, taken at the start of Year 6. London has them in a few outer boroughs only.
• Special schools teach pupils with special educational needs; a place usually comes through an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
• Independent (private) schools charge fees, set their own rules and are inspected by Ofsted or the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

Ofsted grades

• Ofsted inspects every state school in England, usually every few years, and publishes the report.
• Until September 2024 each inspection gave one overall grade: Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate.
• Many schools still show that grade. Read its date: Outstanding schools were not routinely inspected from 2012 to 2020, so some grades are over ten years old.
• From September 2024 to November 2025, inspections graded the separate areas only, with no overall word.

Report cards (since November 2025)

• Inspections since 10 November 2025 give a report card: each area gets one of five grades, exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention or urgent improvement.
• The areas include inclusion, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and well-being, and leadership; early years and sixth form where the school has them. Safeguarding is met or not met.
• There is no overall grade. We show each area and never turn a report card into an old-style grade, or compare the two scales.

Primary results: key stage 2

• In May of Year 6, pupils sit tests (SATs) in reading, maths, and grammar, punctuation and spelling. Teachers assess writing.
• Scores are scaled: 100 is the expected standard, 110 or more the higher standard.
• The headline is the share of pupils at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths together. School pages show it; London ranks primaries by Ofsted only so far.

Secondary results: Attainment 8 and Progress 8

• Attainment 8 adds a pupil's grades in eight GCSE slots: English and maths (each counted twice), three EBacc subjects and three others. A school's score is the average; 50 is about a grade 5 in each subject.
• Progress 8 compares each pupil's Attainment 8 with pupils across England who had the same results at 11. 0 is average; +1 means a grade higher in every subject.
• Progress 8 needs the tests at 11, which were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, so none is published for 2024/25. School pages show 2023/24, the latest year with it.

Grade 5 in English and maths, and the EBacc

• GCSEs are graded 9 (highest) to 1. A 4 is a standard pass, a 5 a strong pass. Pupils without a 4 in English and maths keep studying them after 16.
• The headline is the share of pupils with grade 5 or above in both English and maths.
• The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a set of GCSEs: English, maths, sciences, a language, and history or geography. We do not rank it yet.

Admissions: catchment and the last distance offered

• When a school has more applicants than places, it ranks them by its published oversubscription criteria. By law, children in care and previously in care come first; a child whose EHC plan names the school gets a place before the rest.
• Most schools then put siblings, then distance from home, measured their own way. Some have a catchment area or feeder schools instead.
• The last distance offered is how far from the school the last place went on offer day. It moves every year with the number of siblings and applicants: a home inside last year's distance is a hint, not a place.
• Councils check addresses. A temporary or borrowed address can lose a place.

Admissions: faith schools

• When full, a faith school may put families of its faith first, usually with a supplementary form and a reference from a faith leader about regular worship, often over one or two years.
• A faith free school can give faith priority to at most half its places.
• Rules differ school by school; read each school's admissions policy before counting on a place.

Appeals and waiting lists

• If you are refused a school, you can appeal to an independent panel. The offer letter says how and by when.
• You can also join the waiting list. It is kept in the order of the school's criteria, not the date you joined.
• Infant classes (Reception to Year 2) are limited by law to 30 pupils per teacher, so appeals for them rarely succeed.
• Arriving during the school year? Apply for an in-year place through your council or the school.

Key dates

• Secondary (Year 7): apply in the autumn of Year 6, by 31 October. Offers on 1 March.
• Primary (Reception, and junior schools at Year 3): apply by 15 January. Offers on 16 April.
• Apply to the council where you live, even for schools in another borough. London's councils share one scheme: list up to six schools in order of preference.
• The address that counts is where the child lives on the closing date. A form after the deadline is late and is looked at after the others.

How we rank

• Each list on Schools and Rankings is one published measure for one phase: London state schools, latest year.
• Results lists count schools with 30 or more pupils in the year, from Department for Education performance tables.
• Ofsted lists use one framework each: the old overall grade, or report-card areas graded exceptional. The two are never combined.
• A rank says nothing about fit, travel or your chance of a place. Use it with the school's page, its admissions rules and a visit.