Living Near A Top Ofsted School Affects Property Prices

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by the OECD, recently placed England as one of the top performing countries in the world for maths. The study published in December showed that England had significantly outperformed the international average and now ranks 11th place in the world. Overall, the UK was rated 26th for maths, 23rd for reading and 21st for science.

There has been a significant push in recent years to improve school performance, including additional core school funding, initiatives such as the London Challenge and Academies Programmes, and a pledge by the government that 90% of children leaving primary school will meet the expected standards in reading, writing and maths. Schools continue to be held accountable through various performance metrics, and inspections conducted by bodies like Ofsted.

According to their own records Ofsted inspects about half of all independent/private schools in England, which the refer to as 'non-association' independent schools. The rest of the schools belong to independent school associations and are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which has been approved by the DfE.

Overall, 88% of all state-funded schools were judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ at the most recent 2022 Ofsted report, increasing from 86% in August 2021. Although these inspection grades have now officially been scrapped by Ofsted, there is still however some work to be done, with 63 schools rated as inadequate, the lowest grade given.

How does living near a school affect the price of my home?

Even if you don’t have children of school age, you may be interested to know that the Ofsted grade of the local school could impact the price of your property. House prices are around 10% higher in the catchments of Ofsted ‘outstanding’ primary schools, compared to those ranked ‘good’ in their Ofsted report, while average rents are 5% higher. The price difference between ‘good’ and ‘requires improvement’ is 8%. So, school performance is definitely worth considering as a factor when buying your next home, especially for those looking at prime property of over £1 million where these percentage increments become more significant.

And of course, if you do have children of school age then there are plenty of other benefits to living near a school, including being able to walk your children to school, and easy access to morning or after school clubs, school playing fields and playgrounds. It’s more beneficial from a social perspective too, offering closer proximity when it comes to friends’ birthdays and social occasions (for both children and parents!). Schools usually bring heightened security measures to the area too, good for the neighbourhood overall.

Where are the best public schools located?

There were 131 schools rated ‘outstanding’ in the latest Ofsted report, too many to name them all here, but they include Al-Burhan Grammar School in Birmingham, Dixons Trinity Chapeltown in Leeds, Old Hutton CofE School in Kendal, Rushey Mead Academy in Leicester and Townley Grammar School in Bexleyheath.

In London, the cream of the crop includes Belleville Primary School in Battersea, The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial RC School in Kensington and Chelsea, Servite RC Primary School in Fulham, the London Academy of Excellence in Tottenham and Harris Academy Greenwich in Eltham.
When it comes to the best private schools, the top 10 based on A Level results (or equivalent) and GCSE results in 2023 are;

- St Paul’s Girls School, West London
- Guildford High School, Surrey
- St Paul’s School, SW London
- North London Collegiate School, North London
- City of London School for Girls, Central London
- Tonbridge School, Kent
- King’s College School, Wimbledon
- Magdalen College School, Oxford
- Westminster School, Central London
- King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham

Of course, Labour has recently announced plans to add VAT to private school fees, which is likely to push up demand for places at top rated public or state schools. According to the Independent Schools Council, the average fee for a private school day pupil is £6,021. With VAT added this would rise to £7,225 per term. And for boarding schools the figures are much higher, with an average of £14,153 per term, rising to £16,984 with VAT. So, if you’re thinking of buying a family home or moving in the near future, it might be prudent to research both the private and public school options in the area. The government website offers a handy tool for searching the performance of schools and colleges by location. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales operate their own systems equivalent to Ofsted, and have separate websites where you can search inspection results.