School Guide League Tables


Choose the best school for your child from our authoritative School League Tables

Selecting the best school for your child is often the single biggest decision parents make. Cut through the newspaper headlines, data jargon and playground chatter and find the right school for your child using School Guide’s Top 200 English School League Tables.




Whether you’re looking for primary or secondary, independent or state, single-sex or co-ed, our School League Tables are designed to help you make a hassle-free, informed choice.

School Guide’s League Tables offer exclusive, reliable data that you won’t find anywhere else online. We publish the Top 200 Schools for primary schools, secondary schools (state) and independent schools in England.

How do we rank the Top 200 schools?

We’ve crunched the official government progress and assessment data, analysed the Ofsted reports, mapped the catchment areas and even canvassed parental opinion. Our Top 200 English School League Tables offer you the best chance to view a complete performance picture for any school in England.

Simply click on the school’s name to view the full data set and all the data points that went into the ranking. Not only will you be able to check whether you live in the catchment area and view detailed exam results that the government no longer publishes, but you’ll also see which schools come out on top locally in our exclusive School Guide Star Rating.

League tables often focus too narrowly on pure exam results. At School Guide, schools are ranked by the School Guide Star Rating, which is our own unique rating for each school, ranging from one to five stars. The rating gives a clear and easily understood summary of how well each school has performed in the previous year based on key statistics. The School Guide rating is based on official data and is 100% objective. Data points used to calculate the School Guide star rating include key performance data and inspection ratings.


What data do we show in each league table?


For Primary School League Tables, we rank by the School Guide Star Rating and also show:

Percentage of Pupils Achieving Higher Standard in SATs

Percentage of Pupils Achieving Expected Standard in SATs



For State Secondary School League Tables, we rank by the School Guide Star Rating and also show:

Attainment 8 Score (GCSE)

Average Point Score (A level)



For Independent League Tables (secondary only), we rank by the School Guide Star Rating and also show:

Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs (9-4) including English and maths

Average Point Score (A level)

For more information on the data we use to rank schools, visit our About School Guide page.


Can’t see your local school? Search by your location or postcode

Don’t worry, we’ve researched and ranked 24,360 schools across the UK. Just enter your postcode at the top of the page or click on the button below to view your local primary, state secondary or independent secondary school League Tables.



Accurate and reliable Secondary School League Tables

School Guide’s league tables are created using official government data and are respected by schools and media alike.

Regularly featured in the press as a go-to report on school performance, our comprehensive school data sets have also been used by leading UK websites such as Mumsnet and Rightmove.

All our League Tables are based on unbiased, clear and easily measurable criteria making them uniquely straightforward and user-friendly.

Many other sites have copied our maps, but we created the system and regularly update the catchment area using the latest government data. Our catchment heat maps are fully interactive and allow users to drop a postcode pin on the map and see exactly where pupils currently attending the school live. The catchment areas are carefully calculated and show the likelihood of admission to a certain school based on exact location.


How can School Guide help me find the best school for my child?

We’ve done all the homework on all state and independent schools across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Searching and comparing schools couldn’t be easier:

  • Search for any school in the UK by name, location or postcode
  • See official school statistics in a parent-friendly and clear visual format
  • Use colour coded design to filter primary, secondary and independent schools
  • Compare schools from all sectors and get a School Guide Star Rating to see how a school ranks locally
  • Drop a postcode pin on our catchment heat maps to view the likelihood of admission based on exact location