How to assess a good primary/secondary school?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Cpu2007 said:

As I am searching for properties, when it comes to location, I am also trying to take into account the schools and their quality.

I am now finding myself confused more than ever because there seems to be a general view that schools in south of Manchester are better than those in North of Manchester.

News and other reporting avenues usually rank those schools in the top 10 list.

The ranking seems to be based on inspections and their outcome.

However, as I dug deeper, I found that most of these inspections are outdated, even for schools that are ranked in the top 10.

I'd like to purchase a house in the north of Manchester but not sure what's the best way to access these schools now.

Some of the website I've used are as follow
https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/
https://snobe.co.uk/
https://www.locrating.com/

If anyone has some experience on how to search for good schools effectively, please do advise.

Thank you

I think it all depends on what it is you are looking for. I have one very academic child, and one who is deemed "average" by the schools. the requirements for my children varied. 

When we moved location, I found the local facebook "area" group to be useful. The main thing for me though, was visiting the schools. We wasn't just interested in their GCSE rates, But also their "other" activities (School trips, after school clubs, DofE etc), even things like lunch facilities were looked at. We met with both their teachers, as well as the head of year and head teachers. Visit, have a look around, how do the kids seem. ASK the kids if they like the school (Or get YOUR kids to - Mine did this, they went and spoke to a few children whilst I spoke to the teacher)