Rightmove School Checker – review thread – find out what MNers think! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the MN testers putting the Rightmove School Checker to the test.

The team at Rightmove say “find the right home near the right school with Rightmove’s School Checker. School Checker gives you access to admissions criteria and academic inspection reports for primary and secondary schools across Great Britain. Now on every property, School Checker lets you discover previous admissions areas and Ofsted ratings to easily compare local schools. Visit //www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html to learn more.
Once you’ve found the right home, simply click on the ‘School Checker’ tab to find the right school. Available on both desktop or mobile.”

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
How old are your children if you have any?
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Any other comments?

All selected testers who share feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice.

Thanks
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

[AnnMumsnet]

Thanks for all the feedback.
Am pleased to say Onedaylikethi5ayear wins the £300 voucher.

[Orangepear]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile.
How old are your children if you have any?
4 and 1.
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
I considered it when we last moved, it will be a major factor in our next move.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Yes, if the alternatives were not good
From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes very easy.
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very easy.
Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes, it was handy to see the information in one place.
Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes, but i would also check with the local authority or school, especially if it was a deciding factor for a move.
What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Seeing which schools were oversubscribed.
Any improvements you’d like to see?
Can't think of any.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes as the information is available elsewhere but it's good to see it in one place while looking for a property.
Any other comments?
As far as I know, the details were correct as I found a property on my street, and have just been through school applications for my DD.

[NerrSnerr]

computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
I used a mobile device (iPhone 5)

How old are your children if you have any?
2 and 4 weeks
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Quite important. We looked at local primaries before we moved.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
We would for a good secondary school but hoping grammar school stops us needing to? (Hoping they get their dad's brains)

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes, was really straight forward

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Really easy language, no issues with understanding

Did you find School Checker useful?
A bit, I know not to take offsted scores as gospel.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes, in the initial stages.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Seeing which schools are closest

Any improvements you’d like to see?
No

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?yes

[TheMasterBaker]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

• I used the School Checker on my laptop.
  
  How old are your children if you have any?
  
• I have 3 children, all coming up for their birthdays and will be 2, 8 & 10 years old.
  
  How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
  
• Schools are very important as we want to be in the catchment areas for good schools.
  
  Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
  
• I'm not sure I'd consider moving to get the children into the desired school but it's definitely a big factor to consider when we do decide to move.
  
  From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
  *Yes it was very easy to find, just with the other property description tabs.
  
  How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
  
• Very simple, pretty self explanatory.
  
  Did you find School Checker useful?
  
• Yes I did find it useful as I could see what schools are in the are and surrounding area and Ofsted reports and subscription rates.
  
  Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
  
• Yes definitely, to make sure that the property was within the catchment area/s for our preferred schools.
  
  What did you find most useful about School Checker?
  
• That it shows if the property is within the schools catchment area.
  
  Any improvements you’d like to see?
  
• No it seems pretty good to me.
  
  Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
  
• Yes, it showed me that there are more schools around this area that I could have sent my children to whereas I previously assumed we would be out of area.
  
  Any other comments?
  
• No :)

[rachaelsit]

The app was easy to find and I accessed it on my mobile and iPad. I preferred it on the iPad. I have 2 children aged nearly 3 and 7 months. We moved to where we are specifically because of the school catchment but I did phone the county and check the postcode would be in the catchment for the schools we wanted our boys to attend on the coming years. I would worry that the app wasn't accurate but 100% feel it is a brilliant feature.

We are most concerned with primary school, for two reasons. The first is because invariably you will feed into the secondary school in the catchment (which for us is also great) and that we may move again before they reach this age.

My friends would also use the tool when looking and I'd recommend it. I would never take an app rightmove or otherwise as a accurate seal of fact in such a matter - id always follow up.
Likewise, slightly off topic, but an OFSTED grading is not everything in determining which school you should send your child to in my opinion.

[MetalMidget]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

On my phone (running Android 6.0.1)

How old are your children if you have any?

9 months old

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Probably more important than it should be, but he's our Precious First Born! My husband started checking Ofsted ratings of local schools as soon as I had a positive test, ha ha.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

Yes, we hope to move before our boy starts primary school.

, From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?*

Yes

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Very easy, everything was pretty intuitive.

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes, we learnt that that local primary dropped another Ofsted rating at the end of last year, eek...

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes, it's handy to get the key information quickly. It's also good that there more detailed breakdowns and figures available, albeit in a separate site.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

Seeing at a glance the rating, catchment, distance and subscription.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

It'd be nice if the Ofsted rating directly linked to the report in question, rather than having to click through other sites to get to it.

[LurkingQuietly]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

Computer


How old are your children if you have any?

3 and 1


How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Very for both primary and secondary when the time comes.


Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

Possibly, yes.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?

Yes

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Easy and informative. I liked it.

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Difficult to say as we are unlikely to move to an area away from where we know. If we were to move locally, I wouldn't use it. If we were to move away, yes, I'd rely on this definitely.

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?

I liked the summary of helpful info. I can't think of any improvements I'd suggest.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

For people moving to a new location, certainly. A lot of people we know move locally though and are quite aware of which locations are likely to get entry into which schools.


Any other comments?

I think it's a great addition to Right Move.

[LBOCS2]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

On a mobile device (my mobile!)

How old are your children if you have any?

4 and 1

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Very. We were actively househunting prior to the school application deadline for DD1.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

Yes.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?

Yes

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Yes.

Did you find School Checker useful?

I did and do, I've used it before on the mobile app too.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

The fact that it has previously admitted distance data in a map format.

Any improvements you’d like to see?

It would be good to be able to search for properties by (for example) admissions distance to X school(s) in the past Yno years - so basically searching property by school admission area.

The data on Academy entry is a bit sparse but I suspect that's a data issue rather than the website's fault.

Where religious schools are concerned it would also be good to break down how many children are offered places as a religious priority and how far down the list they go - I.e whether ANY non-denominational places were offered at all.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

I would, with the caveat that the data is a blunt tool and there are discrepancies they need to be aware of - for example, bulge classes artificially inflating the catchment area.

[Laquila]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile

How old are your children if you have any?
3 and 1

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very important

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Not unless we were really desperate

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes, no problem

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
User-friendly and logical

Did you find School Checker useful?
Very

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Definitely

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
It did what it said on the tin - I liked that it was easy to see the schools on a map too

Any improvements you’d like to see?
In our area we have first, middle and high schools - it would be good to see the tabs split between those three rather than just primary and secondary

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Absolutely - very useful add-on

Any other comments?
I don't think it's well-advertised enough! I wound never have heard of it other than for MN.

[Gerjuice]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

Computer



How old are your children if you have any?

Primary school age



How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Super important, one of the most important criteria for us



Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

Yes, if no suitable options available



From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?

Very easy to find



How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

It took around 3 min for me to play around with it and get to the information I needed


Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?

Yes I did find it helpful. I think it could be clearer if the categories were split into State and Independent schools alongside primary/secondary categories.


Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Any other comments?

Yes, it is a useful addition to the search for a new home.

[Brannovice]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile smartphone​

How old are your children if you have any?
1 and 4

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Essential.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Yes.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes. Having used Rightmove in the past I had an idea of where to look.

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very easy.

Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?
Definitely found it useful. I like the range of information that is collated - saves having to visit several different websites to get the same info.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes. It provides an excellent snapshot of the local schools, a great starting point for research.

Any other comments?

[Zebrasinpyjamas]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile
How old are your children if you have any? Nearly 3 and 1
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very important
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? Yes.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find? Yes once I realised it was there. It got a bit lost in the other options at first.
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand? Easy but it was a shame it didn't always say if it was in the admissions area.
Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? Yes
Improvements? I'd like to see the distance more precisely as in my area the difference between 0.2 and 0.4 is critical as max distance are normally between these amounts

[Andbabymakesthree]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

I used both my mobile phone and a tablet.

How old are your children if you have any?

Age 4 mths, five and nine years.

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

It's an important factor and I probably wouldn't move into an area where there were no suitable schools.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

No not unless a home move was already necessary.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes it was super easy to find.


How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Yes it was easy and self explanatory.


Did you find School Checker useful?

To a point. Ofsted isn't what I'd look at as a deciding factor. The info about admissions areas were wrong.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker?


Map showing schools
Any improvements you’d like to see?

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes it's a good tool to start research. Quite basic info though.

[SerenaVanDerWoodsen]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile (iPhone)

How old are your children if you have any?
6, 2

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Quite important. We would probably not consider moving to an area that did not have good schools. However, it is not the most important factor when deciding which house to buy; we would be unlikely to buy a house just to get in to a particular school.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Possibly. Currently all our local schools are good (not outstanding) so we would not consider it. But if the schools went downhill or we lived in an area without good schools, we might consider it for secondary school.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes. No probs

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very easy although took a few clicks on schools to realise I could get more info by following the 'findaschool' link.

Did you find School Checker useful? Yes although some information was incomplete for some schools.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes I think it's a useful addition

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
I liked the immediate list of schools, listed by distance and that they were separated into primary and secondary. It is good you can see the house and school locations on the initial map. I like the admissions information but some of it was incomplete or inconsistent. It was good you can get extra information from the findaschool link.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Different tabs or tick boxes to filter for independent and state schools.
The admissions info on the listing was useful and interesting but not consistent for all schools. For example, some listed as 'inside admissions area' others 'outside...' but some had neither. Surely it should state one way or the other based on that year's data? It would be useful to compare previous years' admissions areas, as they can vary greatly.
It was obvious to me, but some people may not realise that the admissions areas do not relate necessarily to the catchment areas. It took me a while to find the catchment map via the findaschool link- perhaps the official catchment area highlighted on the school checker map when the school is clicked would be a helpful addition (as catchment does have a bearing on most schools' admissions). Also writing that a school is the catchment school in the listings would be good.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes I think it is a useful tool and could guide people who are moving to a new area or specifically for one school.

Any other comments?
It is probably taking it too far, but birth rates play a big part in school admissions. It would be really useful to be able to compare admissions areas for years that had a similar brith rate to the year you are interested in. This would give a more realistic impression as to whether a house would lie within the 'right' area for your children. But I'm probably getting carried away...

[AaoograhaHoa]

Hello RightMove, Answers below :)

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile device (I have the App)

How old are your children if you have any?
One 8yr old one other on the way.

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very very important. would never move to an area without good school provision.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Yes - we have done so in the past.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very Straightforward - I particularly like the "at a glance field". similarly in the App - very easy to use (although shame that the "at a glance box" is missing in the App).

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes - we are looking at the moment, and the three things I check are map location, Street view and School check. These are my most important criteria.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
The Ofstead ratings and distance from the house you are viewing.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
It would be useful to have a link to the schools website.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes - because its useful!

Any other comments?
None. Its a good feature and hope to see it remain.

[Ratbagcatbag]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

Mobile

How old are your children if you have any?

One dd aged 4, who starts school in September

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Reasonably, if it was still in budget I'd always consider catchment of local schools.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

No but only because the faith schools locally have good ratings and don't rely on distance (I only know this through previous knowledge though)

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?

Yes, really simple.

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Reasonably ok, there are a number of schools where not all the information is displayed, id like to know why, is it generally missing or just they didn't have that data?

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes, was easy to pull up information quickly as a guide.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes, but I would do far more research than just using that.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

Whether schools were oversubscribed or not.

Any improvements you’d like to see?

Dates of information gathered, in particular to the inside/outside catchment areas as they do get redrawn.

Also am I'm on a boundary between councils, it actually put schools in the list that I wouldn't always consider even though they are closer.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

Yes, as a first pass it's great, but as with any other schools admissions, I'd advise they research like crazy the specific schools they are interested in. I wouldn't just rely on it.

Any other comments?

A useful tool, but to be used in conjunction with other things to make the best decision.

[redbook]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
I usually use my phone


How old are your children if you have any?
3.5 years .

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very important. I live in central London. DS has recently been accepted to a private school but if he hadn't got a place we would have definitely moved to be close to better schools.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
As above, yes.

From the Rightmove schools page was School Checker tab easy to find?
I understand the schools tab is under each property. I couldn't find a general analysis of schools.

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Easy.

Did you find School Checker useful? / Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes, I have used rightmove to scope out potential living areas.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
It shows the range and quality of schools in an area. I like how it also tells you if a school is oversubscribed.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
I guess more granular information on each school could be helpful. Once you identify a area with a good school, you still need to do detailed research on individual catchment areas.

Also, you could have a function which shows for each school, which houses are in the catchment area.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes. Most parents I know share my school concerns. Many neighbors have moved already due to schools.

[mycavitiesareempty]

I agree pp. This is a case of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".

[Emergencyigloo]

What even is this, a great big Mumsnet advert for Rightmove? - you have to search for a property on their website before you can 'check a school' ...

[SergeantJynErso]

My home is currently up for sale. The school checker information is incorrect for my house. There is a highly sought after Primary which we are 0.34 from and inside admission area for the last three years. Rightmove list it as being 0.4 and therefore outside of the admission area.
Our Estate agent tried to get this corrected but were told that the info is based on the postcode. One end of our postcode is out, our end is consistently within the admission area.
We are frustrated with this as a big selling point of our house is that it is ideal for a family and within admissions area of this great school.
We are worried that people are being put off by the misleading information regarding the admissions area.

[SergeantJynErso]

... and we are worried that people are being put off here the misleading information regarding the admissions area.

[SergeantJynErso]

My home is currently up for sale. The school checker information is incorrect for my house. There is a highly sought after Primary which we are 0.34 from and inside admission area for the last three years. Rightmove list it as being 0.4 and therefore outside of the admission area.
Our Estate agent tried to get this corrected but were told that the info is based on the postcode. One end of our postcode is out, out end is consistently in,
We are frustrated with this as a. Ig selling point of our house is that it is ideal for a family

[Foxsox]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?

Phone

How old are your children if you have any?

7 &2

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?

Extremely important. The main reason we chose our current home.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?

Absolutely

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?

Yes. But a school checker via postcode would be better, as a separate button on the home screen.

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?

Very Easy.

Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?

Yes very useful. I would like it to show specific maps of catchment areas.



Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Any other comments?

it needs more details and links to external sites such as LA and DFE

It's a great start though and I'm
Likely a very picky customer. It's a brilliant tool and I'm sure with time will grow to be excellent.

[FromBigCityToTinyVillage]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile

How old are your children if you have any?
8,11,13

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
really important

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Yes and likewise would also dismiss a house if catchment area had a school graded inadequate.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
yes, really easy to find

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very easy although only recently noticed you can click on the tab find a school to get more information /stats etc.

Did you find School Checker useful?
very as we have just recently been looking to buy and it helps to narrow the searches .

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes absolutely

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
About the Ofsted results and whether the property was in the catchment area.Also whether it was over subscribed.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
If maybe it could be updated more regularly as we are searching for a house now all results for schools were for 2016 so to have results more up to date would be great.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
yes I would as that's actually why we chose Rightmove because of the school checker option and having all information on one site saves so much time.

Any other comments?
We use Rightmove daily and have signed up to receive email alerts on areas we are interested in and it's nice to get a notification as soon as a new house is listed .

[ifyouthinkiwillsleepyoudream]

oh and in addition to above:

How old are your children if you have any?
DS 5 months

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Pretty important

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Possibly. not sure yet.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Very

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Catchment area indication

Any improvements you’d like to see?
More info on some schools, some didn't show catchment area

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes. It helps get a good understanding of what is available around your home

Any other comments?
thank you!