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

[MyHomeHasPeculiarChildren]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Laptop computer
How old are your children if you have any?
8 and 2.5
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very. A decent high school is the reason we're moving in the next couple of years.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
See previous answer . I moved previously for a good primary school, unfortunately out of catchment for any reasonable high schools so time to move again.

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
Did you find School Checker useful?
It is useful but you need to be careful with the schools being listed in distance order. If I search for local properties, we are out of catchment for the two nearest high schools (both within walking distance) and the actual local school is 5th on the list. This could be misleading for people who don't know the area.
Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Absolutely. I managed to use it to narrow down some areas to move to.
What did you find most useful about School Checker?
The 'find a school' extra information link is really good. I like the fact you can get the catchment information and the OFSTED report of the school easily and a link to the school's website.
Any improvements you’d like to see?
Separate information for 6th form and independent schools. Suggested directions to the school from the property so that traffic can be checked. A direct link from Rightmove to the school's website / OFSTED report.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, with a warning to check actual admission areas for the school that they are looking at. As a tool to give ideas as where to live for certain schools it is brilliant.
Any other comments?
I really like this tool and find it very useful in my current house search. A 'search for properties in catchment for this school' button would make my day!

[SmallBee]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet? On my mobile.
How old are your children if you have any? 3 1/2 and 8 months old.
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very important.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? No, we cannot afford that.

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? It was very clear and intuitive.
Did you find School Checker useful? Yes.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move? Absolutely, it makes it

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Seeing the radius for catchment area and the number of pupils.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
It would be good to have a link to the school website.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? Yes,it is very easy and simple, much easier than searching individual schools on Google.
Any other comments?
It was very easy, clear and simple to use. It was really intuitive and I liked being able to compare schools.

[Friolero]

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

How old are your children if you have any?
3, 5, 7

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very important. My area has a system of separate infant and junior schools, so we need to apply at 4+, 7+ and 11+ meaning that there are a lot of school catchments to consider when looking for a new home.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Possibly, it would depend on the schools we would be likely to get in our current location.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.htmll**) was School Checker tab easy to find?*
Yes very easy, both on the website and rightmove app.

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
It was easy to use and understand. The maps were pretty clear, but the list of schools could be made clearer by having an option to filter out of private schools or putting these on a separate tab.

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 found it useful, and would use it when considering a move to provide an initial overview of schools, but would have to look on the council's website for more detailed / accurate information, and to look at the admissions for previous years as it seems to vary quite a lot in my location from year to year, depending on bulge classes etc. It was good to see the catchment map around the schools in relation to the property location, as well as the list showing whether the property was inside or outside the last admissions area of each school. However, I felt the schools for which the property fell within the admissions area could be highlighted more clearly so they stood out when glancing at the list.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, I'd recommend it to get an overview of schools as it's useful to see quickly and easily the rough chance of getting into a school from a potential home.

[ohlittlepea]

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

How old are your children if you have any?
3years old

How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very Important, we want to live in a more rural area, but we want our daughter to go to a state school, so how subscribed the school is and catchment areas are very important.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Probably not, but maybe to get away from a failing 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?
Couldn't be simpler.

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes, It showed me one of the areas wed been thinking of doesn't have a state school that would take our child, which rules out that area for us.
Would you use School Checker when considering a move? yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker? how simple it is to see distances and whether the school is oversubscribed or not.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Perhaps more about local facilities for children like parks.


Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, I think its uniquely easy to use


Any other comments?
Perhaps the list could be colour coded to help each school stand out more :)

[BigGreenOlives]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet? I used my laptop
How old are your children if you have any? 15, 17 and adult
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very important - I want my children to enjoy their childhood and without a good school that is impossible.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? Yes - we live where we do now so they can go to schools which suit their learning styles.

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? Completely straight forward. I liked being able to choose between primary and secondary schools.
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? I think it is a great addition to the Rightmoves websites. I think it would be good if it was clearer for which school the property is in the admissions area - I looked at properties which are near the boundaries for different boroughs and the closest schools are not necessarily available.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? Yes - it saves time when looking to see which schools are in area.
Any other comments? No

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

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

How old are your children if you have any? Three children aged 13, 8, and 4.

How important are schools to you when planning to move home? VERY important. I regularly look at new properties that come on the market (with a view to moving to a more rural house with an extra bedroom) and after assessing whether a property has potential, the very first thing I then do is check the nearest primary amd secondary schools.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? Yes, if I lived somewhere where this was a problem.

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? It contained all the basic information: size, subscription issues, oftsed rating, etc. Anything behond that is up to the potential buyer to research if they are serious about a school.

Did you find School Checker useful? Yes and I always use it.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move? Yes, I use it regularly. It has been a strong factor in deciding whether or not to view a property in the past.

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Ofsted rating, distance from house, oversubsciption.

Any improvements you’d like to see? Link to school website.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? Yes. Because it's a good starting point when looking at a house in the right area for your children's education.

[iCoCo]

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?
0- about to give birth.

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

Very, we are currently trying to future proof our move as much as possible. We are moving counties and have quite a set area in mind. (Although we cannot fully predict the future).

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?

Very easy

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

Very easy.

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes, basic information in one place and ability to explore further via a link.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

That a house is or isn't in a catchment area and if the school is oversubscribed.

Any improvements you’d like to see?

The areas that are included in a schools catchment area so you know the boundaries for each school.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

Yes, when I was starting school in the early 80s. You went to your local school with your friends and my parents didn't have to think about admissions, teaching and learning, pastoral care, school policies etc. Our generation have to consider this and any tools we can use are very welcome. My DB and SIL are both teachers and the content on school checker is the information we are discussing with them whilst we are searching for a house.

Any other

How up to date is the information after any changes such as a new ofsted report or change to admissions?

[Squeezed]

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?1 and4
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very
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? Pretty 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?
Certainly useful. It helps as a starting point for looking at the local schools. I would think that having all the school information needed for admissions would be too difficult to maintain on the websites.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes I would recommend it as a starting point.
Any other comments?

[olbndansmummy]

I used a tablet to have a look round. Our children are 19, 9 and 4, so just primary at present, but did gave a quick gander round secondary.
Maybe would consider a house move when it comes to secondary if they're not what we want, but as you can apply out of catchment not such an issue. It's really important to consider the schools when moving. Found the school checker tab easy to find once I had chosen a property and it was really easy to zoom in and out. Found the tool really easy to use, handy to have ofsted ratings and to have the subscription info too. Would recommend it to other mums, but it could perhaps do with being a bit more up to date. And as other mnetted have said it doesn't tell you where in the catchment you are. Where we live one side of the road is catchment for one school and across the road catchment for another, and all have same postcode. School checker does list the schools in order (I think!) But it didn't change them when I looked at the opposite side of the road.

[Rigbyroo]

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? 2 and 4

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

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

Did you find School Checker useful? Yes
Would you use School Checker when considering a move? Most definitely
What did you find most useful about School Checker? The catchment map and ofsted info
Any improvements you’d like to see?


Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? Yes, it gives the information required and is easy to use

Any other comments? No

[lottietiger]

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

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

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Pretty important especially travel distance to schools.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
No

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?
I found it easy to use and understand, a lot of the schools near us are independent so there were not any ratings but we tried it at my in laws address and it brought up lots.
Did you find School Checker useful?
yes I did if only to find an easy link to look at the school owns site and find out what is in the area. I didn't notice there were primary and secondary tabs at first.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes definitely
What did you find most useful about School Checker? see above , link to find a school and the ofsted ratings.

Any improvements you’d like to see? I was disappointed that it didn't have more info about the independent schools but that's because we live in an area where there are more fee paying schools than not. The link to find a school wasn't immediately obvious.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes I would, its a good starting point although you will need to investigate further it gives you a solid list in one place.
Any other comments?
Useful tool that I would use again.

[ILikeBigBumpsAndICannotLie]

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

Mobile device - phone

How old are your children if you have any?

Three

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very, it was a deal breaker in our recent move

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

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?
Very, its clear and shows more information than I was expecting with the Ofsted information showing on the map on clicking which is very useful

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes, very

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Definitely as its so high on my list of criteria for a move


What did you find most useful about School Checker?
The catchment area around schools and the ofsted rating showing



Any improvements you’d like to see?
a map of all catchements showing on the houses on the map, rather than specific ones, maybe overlapping in different colours. An overall checker for an area too would be helpful which shows more than one schools catchment would be good

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Definitely. If you are in an area of high demand as I am, you get quite stressed about not getting a "good" school especially if you are making a move, you don't want to make the financial commitment and then lose out, the clarity and simplicity of it is really helpful

Any other comments?

[MrsFrTedCrilly]

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 & 8

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Massively important always one of our top considerations.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Perhaps but only if we could realistically afford it.

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 very easy to use and understand

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes, I looked at properties in areas that I knew so I could gauge how accurate the information was. I remember using a similar feature before when we last moved house 3 years ago, it's definitely improved.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Absolutely

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
It's a nice quick assessment of closest schools with ofsted inspection rating and oversubscription details

Any improvements you’d like to see?
As a PP mentioned a link to the LEA would be useful.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes - if they were moving and needed information about local schools its ideal.

[puellapuellapuellam]

Did you use it in a mobile device or tablet?
Mobile phone & iPad

How old are your children if you have any?
2 and a half, and 4 months

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Extremely. We are looking for schools for our children, and are both teachers, so our next big move will mean new schools for everybody!

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Only if we were moving to a new area, then we might target a particular catchment area. Around here (SW London) it would be unaffordable to move locally to within catchment area for a top school, whatever I think about the ethics of it.

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?
Fine. Pretty user friendly. At first I thought the info on each school was very basic but then I realised it was all hosted on a separate website that I needed to click across to.

Did you find School Checker useful?
I think so. It was certainly interesting and confirmed that our current house is in a dead zone as far as primaries are concerned. It wasn't easy to compare between the state and private sectors though, which made some of the information a bit misleading. I would use it when we start house hunting in new areas of the country within the next eighteen months.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes, but as a starting point rather than the exclusive way to research schools.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Clarity and combo of map and list. Gives a good snapshot of the area's schools.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Looking at the site on my iPad mini I found the information for the schools popped up above the perimeter of the screen when I clicked around on the list of schools, and it took me a moment to realise that the school information was coming up, just not where I could actually see it.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, but as a basic glimpse. I'm also not sure how accurate or exhaustive the information is so I wouldn't rely on it absolutely.

Any other comments?
It would be good to have complete links to the schools' own websites. The school that I teach at was listed as website 'unknown', despite its site being the first thing that comes up when you google the school name.

I wasn't sure what order the schools were numbered in as they all seemed to be 0.5 miles away and weren't alphabetical. It gave the impression of a ranking but without being clear.

[Anon1234567890]

Just used the school checker and it was very easy to access. Unfortunately its completely useless. It just lists some schools on distance from the house. It bears no relation to any of the schools admissions and your likelihood of being able to get into a school.

So it actually lulls you into a false sense of security. I would stay away from this use other websites and do your own research. Dangerous.

[mayoli]

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

How old are your children if you have any?
Currently TTC

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

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

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Definetely, currently planning on moving and it's what I spend the most time looking at when looking at a property

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?
Symbol for religious schools, colleges included

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, so helpful

Any other comments?
N/A

[ActuallyThatsSUPREMECommander]

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

How old are your children if you have any?
12 and 14

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

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Yes, I'd consider it (and have considered moving home to be closer to a good school we've got into on criteria other than distance)

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

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

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes, it summarised everything pretty clearly

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
If I were in that position I'd definitely use it as a starting point.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
The quick summary of schools' over/under subscription position, and the ability to look at each house's school situation within a one-stop shop.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
The distance seems to be determmined purely on an "as the crow flies" basis, but as I know from experience, some schools determine distance in terms of actual road distance, and when I looked at a school on the other side of the Thames that can be a very different matter. It should be relatively quick to implement a "crow flies vs road distance" toggle.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes I'd definitely recommend it to them as a starting point. Obviously they'd need to go on and read the small print, but the website is pretty good at reminding them that they need to do that.

Any Other Comments
I was gobsmacked by how many local schools were actually undersubscribed for on-time applications, even ones with Good and Outstanding Ofsteds.

[mcmca]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
I used my computer.
How old are your children if you have any?
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
fairly important.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Would definitely consider moving to get into a better school if the one we were at was not good or surrounding schools to where we were looking to move were not great.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
Yes it was.
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
It was fairly easy, however it wasn't clear that you could click onto the links to see the reports. Perhaps a little 'click here for more' would have been really useful and highlighted it could be done.
Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes definitely useful. I think a schools popularity/achievements gives an idea about the area in general (rightly or wrongly)
Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes I would.
What did you find most useful about School Checker?
I like that it tells you the school was over subscribed and you could read the reports on the school.
Any improvements you’d like to see?
Just as mentioned above - that there was a prompt to look at the links.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes I would - it ticks off another job when looking for a new house, and actually its quite a hand little app even if you aren't looking to move but are looking at schools!
Any other comments?
A good addition to the Rightmove website in my opinion.

[minisoksmakehardwork]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
I used my mobile to use school checker
How old are your children if you have any?
8, 6, 5 and 5
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
with the age of my eldest, we are taking more stock of information about secondary schools than primary. But it is still important for us to get some idea of what is considered good about a primary school as the younger ones will be there for some time.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
No. The size of, and longevity of us being in a home is more important at present.

From the Rightmove schools page (www.rightmove.co.uk/schools.html) was School Checker tab easy to find?
yes, it was an easy scroll down when looking at all the information about the property
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
The school checker was very easy to understand with the basic information provided.
Did you find School Checker useful?
yes, particularly for secondary schools where it wouldn't necessarily be obvious which ones were close.
Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes we would. We are considering a move across country and knowing a little of the schools in the area would be very helpful, even if we then have to go on to school website for more info.
What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any improvements you’d like to see?
It was very useful to see all the schools within the given area and not just the catchment school (our current address only has one actual catchment school). An improvement would be to see whether a school is in or out of county for the postcode used to search, rather than doing an extra search to learn that from the school/LA website. It would improve the search for me. When I looked at schools using my current home postcode, the next nearest school in county came 4th or 5th on the list whereas the higher ones were all out of county, catchment school aside. For me, that would potentially make a difference when considering viewing a property near two similar primary schools and definitely for secondary schools due to having children who would be in junior and secondary at the same time.

It was also useful to see the most recently available ofsted rating, although I would prefer to get a feel for the school myself as given options between similar areas, for secondary education that might make a significant difference to our property searches as they are cross country, so we wouldn't easily be able to pop by.
Would you recommend School Checker?
I would recommend school checker be used as a guideline only and not to replace thorough research. The information regarding whether a school was over or undersubscribed for my nearest schools was accurate. But as a guide, this does give me a good starting point for knowing which schools are in the area(s) we are considering moving to.

[honeysucklejasmine]

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

Mobile device

How old are your children if you have any?

My daughter is one.

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

Very. We are moving now as we want to be in place near a good primary ready for her to start preschool.

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

It's not the reason we're moving, but as we weren't too fussed on exact area, we have used the school checker to guide where exactly we moved too.

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

Yes, very.

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

Very easy. Took me a moment to realise I could click for more information.

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes. We had absolutely no idea about schools and their reputations so it was very helpful. The most recent Ofsted was interesting, although as a teacher i took them with a pinch of salt!

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes, in fact i did!

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

That it gave an indication on whether you were actually likely to get in. It's all very well having an outstanding school nearby but it is even better to know how many applications it had too. Great feature.

Any improvements you’d like to see?

Not every school showed the outline of the catchment area, so if it was oversubscribed i wasn't able to tell how far out of catchment we were.

I'd also like more information - some schools were missing the information and it just stated where they are.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

Yes, absolutely. Very handy tool to have in the cut throat world of school admissions.

Any other comments?

Definitely keep the feature! It's very handy.

[mummytime]

I just read someone's comments and went back to look again. The problem in my area is that admissions areas are shown as circles, when they are not under the wording used for admissions in my area. There is also quite a lot of information missing - although a quick internet search will provide could them.

[louise987]

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
Computer (laptop) and mobile device

How old are your children if you have any?
1.5yrs

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very important - is a main reason to move

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, very easy

How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
Really easy. It was useful to see a map rather than just the distances as it gives an indication of walking/travel routes to school.

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes very, I used it on all properties viewed as the information was so accessible.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes, it would be a vital piece of information I would look for when looking at property listings and would dictate my desire to book a viewing of a property.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Map of schools in proximity of the property, the list of schools with their ofsted rating and easy link to the findaschool website.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Links to school websites alongside their details.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes definitely. it makes the whole process quick and easy, so once you know the school you want you can easily rule in/out houses based on catchment areas. its functionality across platforms also makes it great, I often used it on my phone then on my laptop to look at the findaschool website in more detail.

Any other comments?

[KingLooieCatz]

I see someone from Right move noticed that the last thread had descended into chaos and it's had an overhaul.

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? 8
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? Very
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? Yes

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? So-so
Would you use School Checker when considering a move? No, I'd use ESPC
What did you find most useful about School Checker? Identifying locations of schools.
Any improvements you’d like to see? Link to the promised inspection report, for Scottish schools the page it takes you to just has a tick symbol for the inspection report. No detail there.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? No, because ESPC is better for Scotland.
Any other comments? Pleased to see acknowledgement that OFSTED does not apply across the UK, also in the TV ad, but the Schoolchecker still doesn't take you to inspection reports for Scottish schools.

[OdinsLoveChild]

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

How old are your children if you have any? 2 school age children 10 and 14

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

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school? Only if the school offered what we wanted, not just because its a good 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? Easy enough

Did you find School Checker useful? yes in giving a very basic overview of the schools

Would you use School Checker when considering a move? yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Whether its oversubscribed or not

Any improvements you’d like to see? Yes more accurate information on admissions. My child already attends a high school and my address is listed outside its catchment on rightmove yet the schools official information says we are inside its official catchment area. The number of students admitted is also incorrect along with the inclusion of feeder schools which our school has not included in admissions for over 6 years.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why? yes it gives a very basic general idea of the schools in the area so you can search for their OFSTED reports quicker.

Any other comments? The furthest admitted student address is written in km yet almost everyone in the uk uses miles. This would be a better default measure as lea admissions also use miles.
There is no catchment map for my address despite my home being built in the 1970's. It would be good to show how many students from each area actually got a place at the school as a heat map as shown on vebra.com A direct link to the schools actual OFSTED report would be good. Showing 2017's GCSE results in your graphs is premature as these exams have not been taken yet and the results are unknown. At this point in the year this is incorrect information and misleading.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

1. How did you use the school checker on your computer or tablet?
   I used on my smart phone
   
2. how old are your children if you have any?
   2 & 4
   
3. How important are schools when planning to move home?
   Extremely
   4)Would you consider moving home to get into a better school?
   Yes already have!
   
4. How easy was the school checker tab to find?
   Very - was obvious
   6)how useful did you find the school checker tab? would you use it when considering a move? what was most useful and could be improved on?
   Very useful and yes I would use it. Insight to the school including school numbers and Ofsted report were particularly interesting. I couldn't see any room for improvement.
   
5. would you recommend this to other parent s and why?
   Yes I would as it gives useful information on the important factor of schooling.
   
6. other comments?
   Great tool!