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Start with the schools genuinely near your home, because most primary places are decided by distance. Weigh each school's Ofsted rating alongside the year it was given, since a grade is a snapshot and many schools no longer carry a single overall grade. Then visit: ask about class sizes, how reading is taught, and how children are cared for, and pay attention to how the school feels. Finally, check each school's admission criteria and last year's cut-off distance so your shortlist is realistic, not aspirational.
Choosing a primary school is a big decision made with imperfect information. The good news is that it becomes manageable once you work in the right order: geography first, evidence second, visits third, and admission rules to keep the whole thing realistic. This checklist walks through that sequence so you spend your energy on the handful of schools you could actually secure, rather than on a distant favourite you are unlikely to get.
Primary admissions are overwhelmingly about distance, so start there. List the schools that are genuinely close to your home, note their type (community, academy, faith, or free school), and set aside anything so far away that you would never win a place. A tight, realistic shortlist of nearby schools beats an aspirational list every time. Seeing every state school around your postcode ranked by distance in one view is exactly what our report is for, and it stops you overlooking a strong school two streets away.
An Ofsted rating is useful evidence, but it is a snapshot from the days inspectors visited, and since September 2024 many state schools no longer carry a single overall grade. So read the word and the year together. For what each grade means, see what Ofsted ratings mean; for why some schools now show no headline grade, see the 2024 grading change. Treat the rating as one input, weighted by how recent it is, never as the sole decider.
| What to look at | How much weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Recent Ofsted outcome (last 2–3 years) | High | Reflects the school broadly as it is now. |
| Old grade (5+ years) | Low | Intake, staff and leadership may all have changed. |
| Your own visit | High | Tells you the feel and daily reality no report captures. |
| Distance and admission criteria | Decisive | Determines whether you can realistically get a place at all. |
A visit tells you what no document can. Book onto an open morning or tour, and go with a short list of questions:
Just as important is the feel. Are the children calm, busy and happy? Do staff seem to know them by name? Does the head talk about the school in a way that matches what you see in the corridors? Trust what you observe on a normal morning as much as anything you are told.
Take the same handful of questions to every school you visit. Comparing like-for-like answers across your shortlist is far more revealing than forming a warm impression of one school in isolation.
Before you fall for a school, confirm it is within reach. Read each school's admission criteria and, where published, the previous year's cut-off distance on your local council's admissions pages (linked from gov.uk). Priority usually runs looked-after children first, then siblings, then distance, so living nearby helps but does not guarantee a place. Our guide on how catchment areas work explains this in full, and it is the step that keeps your shortlist honest.
With visits done and admission rules understood, put your shortlist in genuine preference order for the council application, and use all the preferences you are allowed. Ranking a realistic nearby school high, alongside your favourite, protects you if the top choice is oversubscribed. A confident, well-ordered list based on visits and real admission data is the strongest position you can be in. When you are ready to lay your options side by side, our report gives you every nearby school with its latest Ofsted outcome and date in one place, and our methodology sets out exactly what it does and does not tell you.
The report gives you a realistic nearby shortlist with each school's latest Ofsted rating and its date; it is a starting point for your visits, not a substitute for them or for the school's own admission rules.
