The Good Schools Guide

[lostboysfallin]

Do I have to order a book?
I just want to see the info online, now
Has anybody used this?

you can, you will hve to pay to do so

paying is fine, but I seem to be ordering a book, not signing up to view online.
Or do I sign up for the book and then I am subscribed so I can view online?
I don't get it!!

You can get last year's (or even the year before edition) very cheaply from Amazon. Very little will have changed - except the fees, of course..

Try the library (or a sneaky peak in the bookshop)

I thought you could pay 9.99 or something to view for three months but I stand to be corrected (too lazy to actually look for myself)

I just go into Waterstones and read their copy for an hour at a time, its £35 saved, it changes every year and it's a lot of wasted paper if we all buy a copy.
I can't be the only one it's always well-thumbed.

Isn't it just full of info you can get from school websites? If you are looking at indies then Tatler's review is good.

I was trying online to pay 9.99 which I thought would give you online access, but that really wasn't clear from the website.had problems with logons and then the bloody site went down for maintenance!! Argh!
There is some extra info on there, very interesting actually, all written very informally and almost personally.
Some is a bit out of date, but it was worth doing.

Isn't it written by the submitting schools though? Not objective so you are paying for advertising.

Not sure MollieO, if it is they've been very honest, as its a warts and all report.

No the GSG have "independent" people who visit the schools. The schools show them round etc answer their questions but have no input to the content of actually what is written.
There is a mumsnetter who works for the GSG so she maybe along to clarify.

The Tatler is pay for inclusion, and based on schools submission with no further check. It doesn't have many schools in it.

The Good Schools Guide really has staff who go and visit schools, and the public can send comments. That doesn't mean it's a perfectly neutral guide. All schools in it have been adjudged "good", but the criteria are vague. As the schools are considered good, the commentary is invariably positive.

It is however the largest guide by far, and what you have to do is learn to read the code (best done by looking at loads of entries). What isn't mentioned as a strength of the school? Is it all about the Head? What exactly is said about pastoral care and co-curricular activities? Very few entries are glowing all round.

Interesting about Tatler. I'm disappointed by that.

There are probably some that make it into Tatler without paying (they're hardly going to miss out the really well known schools). But they are reliant on material from the schools for the content of the entries. And I suspect they major on schools they believe will appeal to their readership demographic. GSG attempts to cover a much wider range.

MollieO: I write for the Good Schools Guide and can assure you that all the reviews are entirely independent. No school can pay to be included in the Guide. Schools are included in the Guide if there are enough positive reports (parents, word of mouth etc) to justify a visit. We cover state, independent and SEN schools. The writers who review schools are parents themselves (though obviously not with children at any of the schools they visit) and write from the point of view of parents NOT the schools. GSG writers don't just talk to the head, they speak to as many pupils and parents as possible to make sure their views are included. A 'good' school for one child may be quite the opposite for another therefore the reviews give some indication of what kind of child would be happy at the school.
meditrina is right, there is a certain amount of code in the GSG, we do our best to get past the school's marketing department hype thus subtle comments may conceal sharper opinions.
lostboysfallin: so sorry you had problems subscribing to the website. Please try again and message here if it still won't work. The website is 'live' so new reviews come on as they are written; in addition to searchable school reviews it has a huge amount of extra information re exam result breakdown, value added etc. Buying the book does not give you a subscription to the website (sorry!). You mention that you thought some reviews were 'out of date'; we do our utmost to ensure that this is not the case. Unless there are major changes such as a new head, schools are visited and reviewed from scratch every four or five years but key information (results etc) is updated every year.

Hello Can Mumsnet please give me some ideas about good secondary schools in Gloucester, Shrewsbury or Worcester as we are thinking of moving there. We are keen to find a strong school in relation to Maths and Science?