Ratings say less than you'd think.

No — and be wary of anything that claims to. It can't see live school data, catchment boundaries, waiting lists, current places or parent reviews. What it gives you is the framework: which official sources to check in your country, how to read them, what to ask on a visit, and a scoring tool for the schools you research yourself.

Because headline results correlate strongly with the background of the pupils a school admits — a high-scoring school isn't necessarily teaching better. Progress or value-added measures, where published, show what the school itself adds. And a school you can't get a place at, or that means a 40-minute journey each way — 253 hours a year — may not be the right answer regardless of rating.

Eligibility. Admissions rules, catchment or zoning, sibling and distance priorities and deadlines decide what's realistically available, and they differ hugely by country and district. Contact the local authority, ministry or school and ask how places are allocated for your year group — especially as a family relocating without a confirmed address yet.

How staff speak to children, how children behave between lessons, whether pupils approach adults comfortably, what's on the walls, the state of toilets and outdoor space. Ask how they settle children joining mid-year, how they support a child who's behind or ahead, how bullying is handled in practice, and about staff turnover. Write notes the same day, using the same points for every school.

Then contact the local authority or school support service early — support arrangements and funding often follow separate processes and timelines, and waiting for the main application round can cost months. In the scoring tool, you can weight support provision as heavily as it deserves, which often changes which school comes out ahead.