Blog

School DIY projects send parents over the edge at the end of the the busiest term of the year says Victoria Bond, Founder of School Guide   It came in last night. The One. Like a lot of families across the UK, my two senior school boys and I are limping through Christmas productions, end of...

The small country on the Baltic sea outperforms all the major European economies, including the UK who sits at number 22 in the influential global education tests, and ranks sixth in the world. How do they do it?    The results of the international education league tables are published...

  Think twice before you post pictures online of your children, experts warn.   Proud parents sharing pictures of their darling children sounds like the most natural thing in the world. But experts are warning about the perils of ‘sharenting’ – the practice of parents sharing images...

The stats don't lie. New evidence shows pupils are three times more likely to get an A at A level in 2019 than in 1989 A level results were critised last week after it was revealed that candidates taking one maths paper could achieve an A grade with only 55% of the marks. This means pupils...

Having a flourishing CV is as important as getting good exam results says School Guide's Founder Victoria. Here's how to help your child get ahead while you are all on holiday   GSCE and A level results are just out and, for many, the piece of paper with their grades will be the most...

SATs week 2019. We thought long and hard about what to say to help all the wonderful pupils – and, you, their tremendous, hard working parents – as they face fronted adverbials against the clock. We decided to put the politics and pressure to one side and just share 5-minutes of pure...

Give pupils these tools to help them look after their own mental health and wellbeing, says this deputy head  It is a worrying time to be a parent. We are told that we have an epidemic on our hands: an entire generation of young people who cannot cope with setbacks, failure or disappointment;...

     *** Update December 2018. We are very grateful to Mapbox for supporting School Guide with a new mapping system and allowing us to return the pupil heatmaps to the site ***   We are so sorry to announce that due to huge hikes in the cost of using Google maps we have had to...

It's no wonder many parents find official league tables harder to read than ever when one of the most senior school leaders in the country recently branded the new GSCE performance tables "potentially baffling".  Parents are "struggling to keep up" and most of us would need a Grade 9 in...

Parents: welcome. You are among friends here. If you've read our blog about what school leaders have called the "potentially baffling" exam results published in 2018, it's okay to not be okay when it comes to deciphering school data. It isn't like the old days (circa 2015) when the...

  Scaled scores Scaled scores replace the old levels – pupils used to be expected to reach Level 4 by age 11. Scores come from the marks on each of their test papers and are combined to show what percentage of pupils meet or exceed the expected national curriculum standard. We...

It's possible – as School Guide's Founder Victoria discovered on her first ever family activity holiday. Here's how she ticked the screen-free family holiday box at Mark Warner's Levante Beach Resort in Greece   We’ve all read (and probably eye-rolled at) the newspaper stories about reversing...

Snapchat, the social media app loved by teens, recently added a new location-sharing feature called Snap Map.  Snap Map lets users share their exact location in real time with people on their "friends" list.  Schools, however, are issuing warnings to parents over serious concerns about the...

7 tips to get YOU through the start of Year 7   When I discovered I was pregnant for the first time, I was over the moon when a friend passed me a well-thumbed copy of What To Expect When You Are Expecting. The book is as close as it gets to a baby bible, and helped me get to grips with the...

What a term. What a time. What to make of it all?  Summer 2016 and the end of the school year coincides with one of the most turbulent times in recent political history. Post-EU Referendum, we barely digest one piece of news and another seismic change hits the headlines.  Here at School...

We've shined our School Guide shoes and straightened our ties this week to welcome a new partner to our fast-growing Tutor Directory. School Guide has joined forces with TutorMapper to offer parents an additional tried and tested resource when looking for tutors and a new badge scheme that...

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Wikipedia The government published its...

It's budget day and parents across the land are waking up to the news that all state primary and secondary schools in England will become academies by 2022.  Words like 'forced' and 'no choice' are being used in the news and it's hard as parents to grasp whether or not these changes will be...

School Guide's Founder Victoria and her son, Billy, 8, give Carol Vorderman's maths website the thumbs up It’s just gone 7am on a Saturday morning and my 8-year-old son, Billy, is pestering to switch on the laptop. The object of his screen time affection is not an episode of Pokemon or a new...

This week is Children’s Mental Health Week and, according to a new survey published by oganisers Place 2 Be, one in five children are now experiencing mental health problems before the age of 11. Place 2 Be is a national counselling and support network and their patron, the Duchess of Cambridge,...

The government releases its official GCSE results each year in January for secondary schools in England and it's always an exciting time for School Guide. We pull in the new performance data and watch the GCSE dials on our school pages go up and down. For the first time we display our...

On the 11th day of Christmas, the government announced plans to crackdown on “innumeracy" and introduce a new computerised test to ensure that all 11-year-olds know their times tables by the time they leave primary school. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said today that a pilot scheme will be...

It’s back to school in the UK this week but it’s not just pupils who have been returning to the classroom. Increasing numbers of successful business leaders are also going back to school thanks to a fast-growing initiative called Founders4Schools.  Founders4Schools connects teachers and...

The Department for Education has this week published early league tables for state secondary schools in England, based on provisional data from this summer's GCSE results. The aim is to give parents a taster of 2015 GSCE data to help those families frantically completing application forms for...

Now that the last minute dash to the shoe shops and the late night labelling sessions are fading to a distant memory, we thought it was time for School Guide to take a look at the new national curriculum and give parents a beginners guide.  As of September, all children aged between five and...

“The very word – maths – can evoke a lot of emotion, and much of that emotion is wrapped up in anxiety. Anxiety from the pupils who know they needs this golden ticket – this maths GCSE – but also anxiety from parents who often have negative feelings about maths themselves from their own childhood...

"OK so tomorrow we have swimming; Wednesday it's drama; Thursday, tennis; and Friday we have gymnastics. The weekend is pretty jammed with ballet and tap and then we're back to Monday with Tilly's tutor... hmm maybe we should schedule a play date for half term?" This was the conversation I...

A big brown envelope arrived through my letterbox in July. It contained a certificate stating that I was now officially a teacher. My dedication and perseverance throughout the rollercoaster of my PGCE had paid off and, thanks to a gruelling round of interviews, I was fortunate to have my first...

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster in our household. Less for my daughter, Alice, who has just started primary school, but more for me as I come to terms with my youngest and last child leaving the golden preschool years behind and stepping into the time machine of our school...

Last week my 11-year-old son went off to big school. I know the definition of big school depends on your own family perspective. It's starting nursery if you have a 3-year-old, primary school for the nearly 5s and, for the thousands of pupils who joined Year 7 like my son, secondary...

I am 20 and about to go into my second year at Durham University. I have had seventeen summers of trial and error under my belt. I’ve seen both sides of the great school’s out debate. There have been entire summer months when I have not written a word and definitely suffered the consequences when...

Is your child taking the CEM 11+ exam in the new academic year? We've helped millions of children pass their 11+ exam and have prepared this guest blog for School Guide to highlight the five key questions parents need to ask to make sure their child has the best shot at success.  1. Is my...

 Highly experienced Lead Inspector talks exclusively to School Guide and reveals flaws in system "I can't believe anyone would send their child to a school on the basis of just reading an Ofsted inspection report" "Often the report is out of date and therefore you cannot set great store by...

It's not every week we get to kick-start Monday with a royal seal of approval. So School Guide was thrilled to be selected as #DOYEntrepreneur of the week by HRH The Duke of York today.  The Duke has a very keen interest in education and technology and is the driving force behind several...

Welcome to our new Expert Help series. School Guide is proud to be home to the UK’s most comprehensive schools dataset. We know that exam results and performance data tell an important story for parents but we also know that there is another side to school life: a softer side that celebrates...

I have three degrees and a Doctorate in Education. Understanding how children learn is not only my job, it is my passion. I was a teacher myself for many years and know how hard the job can be. It is the second hardest job in the world – after being a parent.  On reflection, I think I shocked...

Every now and then a news story related to schools really catches my eye. This morning there was a cracker on BBC News: Are erasers in school instruments of the devil? The story revealed that a leading cognitive scientist has suggested rubbers be banned from classrooms. In some schools,...

School Guide prides itself on making key school statistics easy to find online but there's no substitute for visiting a school on Open Day if you want to get a true sense of a school, it's ethos and community.  That's why School Guide has launched it's new Open Day Calendar; a new destination...

School Guide and Rightmove are today announcing an exclusive partnership to bring together two of the most important areas of British family life: school and property.  School Guide now shares our market-leading schools data set with Rightmove, the UK’s largest property website, and enables...

Education, education, education. Tony Blair’s early Noughties election mantra may seem old school in an era when the political focus has shifted to the economy, NHS and immigration. But a recent poll saw education firmly back at the heart of the election for many ‘school run’ mums. 13,000...

I feel as though we are preparing for the 7+ exams #SATs #stressful #parenting So read the tweet posted on @SchoolGuideUK's Twitter feed last week by a worried parent. For many, the start of Key Stage 1 SATs on Monday marks their child’s first encounter with proper performance testing. SATs...

Whether the Easter holidays are already a chocolate-filled memory or your child is returning to school this week, the annual April break is fast-becoming the ultimate time for families with children facing exams in the summer term to take a Get Ahead Get Away.  These days B is rarely for break...

The school uniform debate would appear to be a very British affair. The Europeans are able send their children to school quietly without a monogrammed jumper fuss. Finnish secondary school children, the European darlings of the international performance league tables, do not wear blazers or ties...

Today is just another ordinary Thursday for the hundreds of thousands of school pupils across England. But today's also the day that the hard work and exam results produced by GSCE and A level pupils last summer are published by the Department for Education. The new performance tables are out,...

So last weekend our little family did The Thing. My eldest son sat the assessment tests for a local selective secondary school. The school in question is one of his options for entry in September 2015 and we had discussed, long and hard, whether he wanted to go through the entrance exam...

In Roman times, craftsmen would cover the imperfections of pots and statues with wax. The derivation of the word sincere comes from two Latin words: sine (without) and cera (wax). As the cracked waxed pots looked similar to the naked eye, it became important to test the quality of the pottery....

I have two daughters under the age of 11 but I have already been through the school application process five times. I applied for their first primary school place, and then applied again when we moved area. I have most recently also pressed send on an application for a senior school place for...

Hands up if you have an opinion on your child's school? Thought so. It's as easy as ABC to add star ratings for local schools on School Guide. Sharing your parents-eye view on a school is a great way to share knowledge and help other parents find the best schools. Every school on School...

So, here I am. The morning after my first secondary school Open Day. High on PTA squash and easing myself in to the decision hot seat. My eldest son is in Year 6 of primary school and I find myself in the peculiar position of attempting to follow my own advice.  Last year I wrote Maximise your...

We're shining our shoes and straightening our ties today to mark the arrival of our new site sponsor Galore Park. Galore Park is the UK's number one publisher of learning materials for pupils studying at independent schools and have helped thousands of children unlock 11+ and 13+ Common...

One of the most shared images on the School Guide Facebook page in the last few months features this super stylish maths corner in a primary school classroom. Colour co-ordinated and stimulating, the bright design aims to stimulate bright little minds. Stylish and maths may not often be words...

Our new School Guide Tutor Directory launches today. It makes it quick and easy for parents to find the best tutor for their child. Many of you read our recent blog on the dilemma parents face about hiring a tutor and told us it was a useful tool. Read the article here. But those of you who...

Read your child's end of school report yet? Don't skip the attendance section. This data proves that school attendance has a direct impact on how your child will perform in school. This chart, compiled using data from the Department for Education by School Guide, the data-driven site aimed...

New partnership creates one-stop education information for parents School Guide and Mumsnet are today announcing a partnership to provide clear online school information combined with Mumsnet users’ first-hand experience of schools. School Guide’s bold infographic style and no-nonsense...

'Oooooh... so you are Sophie's sister!' This could be the best or worst sentence to hear when you start a new school. My siblings and I can’t even decide on the same film for film night, so how can we be expected to conform to the same education system? My sister,...

Last month a university in New York State announced it was launching a course on the sociology of Miley Cyrus. According to its teaching professor, the singer provides the perfect subject for exploring the cultural conflict many of our girls face today. Miley appears to be both in-your-face...

No formal tests until 18 and hair brushing during lessons. So how do Finnish children manage to put their UK counterparts in the shade? Maths teacher and mum of three Naomi Sani visited Helsinki to find out I was a young teacher in a secondary school when I first came across this quote from...

ON MONDAY, hundreds of thousands of children will find out whether they have a place at their chosen secondary school. For some this will be at a school that required them to sit the 11-plus or Common Entrance Exam. How did they get there? Increasing numbers will have had a private tutor. 1 in...

School Noticeboard gives every UK school the opportunity to create their own login and add news, photos and information about their school events. Register today and tell the parents who visit your page about: School Open Days New awards or school prizes Special trips or...

Modern school terminology can be confusing. Like Key Stage. Or SATs. Or the difference between the English and International Baccalaureate. Even school years are unrecognisable for many parents. Forget O levels in the fifth year; now it's GCSEs in Year 12. Parents need an -ology just to navigate...

January: the season of stopping. Abstinence rules and the dark winter days are spent making amends for the sparkling excesses of Christmas. This year, however, not all the red light headlines have been related to rationing the Rioja. Since the start of the new school term, there has been an...

FESTIVE BREAKING NEWS! 80% of pupils at North Pole Primary have seen Mummy kissing Santa Claus SOURCE: Headmistress Mrs Carol Singer As children break up from school for Christmas across the UK, annual performance data from a small school at the northernmost point on Earth, North Pole...

This week marks Anti-Bullying Week (18-24 November) an annual event organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance to encourage schools, clubs, individual children and young people across the country to band together with one mission: to make bullying unacceptable – for everyone, everywhere. The NSPCC...

Earlier this week School Guide’s Founder Victoria Bond had the opportunity to put some questions to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove. Victoria, the mother of two school age children, wanted to discuss the issues that affect many of the thousands of parents who...

You've known about the deadline for secondary school applications for months. So why, with just ten days to go, are you still angsting about pressing send? You may need to separate the best school from what is best for your child The average child in the UK will spend eleven years of their...

To celebrate Children's Book Week (7-11 October), we're giving away £100 of book tokens to the school with the most LIKES on their School Guide page. All you have to do is follow these three simple steps: 1. Search for your child's school via name, location or postcode on School Guide 2....

We're sitting on a vast amount of data here at School Guide and we've recently opened our Data Lab to experiment with plotting trends and visualising data with the official statistics we hold on over 35,000 schools across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our first test was to...

1. MAKE LIKE A CUB SCOUT: BE PREPARED Visit schools a year before you have to submit a school application. This takes the pressure off and means you can re-visit your shortlist just before you have to make a decision. Start in Year 5 (age 9 or 10) for secondary schools and look at primary...

So house prices in England are at a record high according to a new report from the Office for National Statistics this week. But moving home is still one of life’s most stressful experiences and a positive shift in house price tags will only go some way to compensate for the anxiety of moving....

It was always the Woolworths window that did it for me. There it was – first day of August, sun blazing – and the poster screamed, ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’. Smart shirts, itchy jumpers and innumerable pencil case/A4 binder combinations were displayed for all to see. I remember as a girl of nine or ten...

TODAY Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg unveils plans that could see children as young as five face “baseline” tests when they start reception as part of a new push to support pupils. According to a new survey, 63% of parents of school age children are not satisfied with school data that is...

SchoolGuide.co.uk, the UK’s best school guide, was awarded a prestigious Nominet Internet Award at a ceremony held at The British Library in London on 4th July. Celebrating the internet as a force for good, these annual awards recognise UK businesses, charities, individuals and public and private...

There’s a whiff of de-mob happiness in the air. Exams are coming to an end and schools are all set for the one day of the year when our children actually wear their daps: sports day. I’ve noticed a few blogs and stories popping up over the past week or so that got me thinking about the...

As one UK secondary school is set to ban homework we ask whether work should stop at school It’s Friday and, for most, it’s the end of the working week. As I write, I can see it’s approaching 3pm and our children will be in the last lesson of the day. Pencil cases will be tantalisingly close...

It’s not every day we get our School Guide smalls in a twist. But when top entrepreneur and chief executive of Knickerbox and Anne Summers Jacqueline Gold announced our parent-friendly school information site had won one of her sought-after #WOW awards, we were all in a flutter. Jacqueline...

My Leo ears pricked up recently when I heard about a new report that says summer-born children should have their exam results boosted to compensate for being almost a year younger than some of their peers. Born on a long hot August night in 1970, I started school a matter of days after my...

There was a lot of cheering at the TV this weekend by the School Guide team. No, we're not talking about the Britain’s Got Talent Semi Finals but an appearance by our website built for parents on the BBC, Webscape reporter Kate Russell fronts BBC Click, the guide to all the latest gadgets,...

A free website that puts essential school information at parents' fingertips launches today. School Guide brings key school statistics together in one place from several official websites including the Department of Education and Ofsted and makes it quick and easy for parents to choose the...

In 2012, English schools were on course for the biggest shake up of the 16+ examination system since O-Levels were abolished at the end of the 1980s. The English Baccalaureate Certificate was set to replace GSCEs. It was a shiny new qualification engineered to end grade inflation and see a return...

Parents are familiar with the 5-a-day message but a growing number of children are being put on a different kind of health regime to get ahead at school. Welcome to the world of the new Media Diet. The Media Diet – or Digital Rationing as it is also known – involves slimming down kids’ use of...

My pre-school son loves Judith Kerr's classic The Tiger Who Came to Tea and, as a maths teacher, I often find myself referring back to Amy Chua's book about Chinese parenting, Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother. The term Tiger Mum was coined by Amy Chua. Tiger Mums believe in hard work and...

Government funding cuts mean that many valued school breakfast clubs have not re-opened this academic year raising fears that the children who need the facilities the most may be left hungry. One newspaper labels some cuts "severe" and reports: "Essex County Council said they had provided 219...

The government is to offer money for primaries who do the Academy deed from June 2012. The Department for Education has created the Primary Chains Grant (www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/primary/a00210101/primarychainsgrant) to help primary schools that decide to...