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

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?

1 year 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?

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?

Very easy to understand.

Did you find School Checker useful?

It was great to show vital information about the local schools in the area you were searching.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Yes I'd definitely have a look at it.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

Great for an understanding of what areas are for school admissions.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
No I don't think so.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

I would I think other parents would like this function.

Any other comments?

Very handy and useful.

Rightmove, please also consider the discussion and feedback in this thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/2906076-Websites-calculating-admissions-areas-and-getting-it-seriously-wrong

Although people might find the tool useful as a buyer, it is the sellers who pay for the listings and if they see that your tool is incorrectly labelling their houses as "out of admissions area" for local schools that they know are perfectly accessible they are likely to be very unhappy about it.

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
On my computer.
How old are your children if you have any?
He 15 months but we are moving this Summer for THE place so I would like to have a look at schools already...
How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
One of the most important decisions. I don't want to buy somewhere where there is not a potential outstanding school.
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Maybe, but it's our first buy and it will be a big part of the final decision anyway.

Was School Checker tab easy to find?
Super easy and the map was really clear!
How easy did you find School Checker to use and understand?
It is so simple! Love it!
Did you find School Checker useful? Would you use School Checker when considering a move? What did you find most useful about School Checker?
I will definitely use it when we move this Summer.
Any improvements you’d like to see? Maybe they could have an equivalent for nurseries? I find it difficult to find one when I needed to and it would be helpful to have such a map of places in the area to buy.
Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Absolutely as it's so easy to use!

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?
I am currently pregnant with our first child

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very as we are looking for our 'forever home'

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Hopefully we will move to a good school prior to our child starting 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 - straightforward and easy to understand

Did you find School Checker useful?
Yes

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes and it will be a key tool for moving house in the next 18 months

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
Being able to see the location and catchment area.

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Perhaps the distance that last year's catchment included?

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes - it makes things easier to consider when looking to move

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

My mobile

How old are your children if you have any?

1 & 6

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

They are a factor in our decision making. We wouldn't buy a house that didn't have good schools in its area.

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

Yes and we are doing.

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?

Clear and easy to understand.

Did you find School Checker useful?

Yes. I have been referring to it whenever I view a house.

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?

Definitely.

What did you find most useful about School Checker?

Just to be able to see which schools fall in the catchment area and their offstead rating.

Any improvements you’d like to see?

None I can think of.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?

Yes, it's an easy way to check the schools for the area you're considering to move. It's played a part in determining where I want to live.

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 years, 4 months

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Extremely. We specifically moved last year to be in a good catchment area.

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

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?
Yes

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
Yes

What did you find most useful about School Checker?
I liked the comments about the school being over subscribed

Any improvements you’d like to see?
Maybe adding nurseries

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes, it's a nice place to get headline information

Any other comments?
No. Although I'd be keen to know how often it's updated.

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
pc and mobile
How old are your children if you have any? 19
How important are schools to you when planning to move home? would be crucial
Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
definitely although with house prices being what they are much less likely to be able to afford this
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 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?
would be good to have a filter to separate independent schools and grammar schools as sometimes you have to scroll through 12 schools to find the one that you are interested in.
It would be good if when you clicked on the school on the map it showed the name on the map on a pop up label rather than highlighting it on the list.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
its a great facility for researching the area and nearby streets even if you arent looking for a property. It is really fast.
Any other comments?
I liked the map facility

Did you use School Checker on your computer or on a mobile device or tablet?
On my mobile device – Apple iPhone

How old are your children if you have any?
One child aged 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 if it suited the rest of our family circumstances at the time.

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 to use.

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?
It was very easy to use and very clear about the distances to local primary schools and their recent admission distances and information. I would like the secondary school information to be as clear but some was missing for my area.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Yes definitely, it gives good basic information on schools in the area and recent admission criteria.

Any other comments?
It is a good addition to a much-used app.

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?
19months, 5, 8 and 9

How important are schools to you when planning to move home?
Very important. It would be the decision maker.

Would you consider moving home to get into a good school?
Maybe. If the other would agree, I would move to get into a good school.

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?
I found it a great addition to the site. I think its a valuable tool for parent / parents to be who are looking to move.

Did you find School Checker useful?
Very useful

Would you use School Checker when considering a move?
would definitely use the school checker.

What did you find most useful about School Checker? Any
improvements you’d like to see?
The ofsted results.
catchment area rules

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
Any other comments?
I would definitely recommend to other parents. Most parents would look up the local schools anyway. This way, its all in the one area. Perhaps a link to the schools websites.

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?
6 3 2mths

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?
It wasn't desperately intuitive but I managed

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?
It's a great idea but innacurate from the 4 areas I checked. 3 were wildly off and the 4th debatable. I would still need to check school websites and the LA.

Would you recommend School Checker to other parents and why?
No - innacurate

this tool is pretty cool. I am not sure if i would move specifically for schools (but aware this might change when DS reaches the right age!) but i would certainly be interested in learning about the school offerings in an area I'd be looking to buy. I think it is a great idea but possibly some teething problems still to sort out, from a technical/info point of view? looking for schools near my area for example, i noticed that some schools didn't offer info, while others did. Catchment area indications are amazingly helpful, but they didn't appear in every school... But there's definitely lots of potential in something like this for prospective buyers.

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!

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 .

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.

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

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

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.

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' ...

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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