Dataset Metadata: England Secondary Schools Database

File: england_secondary_schools.csv
Scope: All open, state-funded secondary schools in England (~3,200 schools)
Geography: England; filter london_sub_region for London analysis
Last updated: March 2026
Compiled from: GIAS, Ofsted, DfE KS4 Performance Tables, SCAP, IMD 2025, School Workforce in England

How to read this document

Each variable is listed with: - Data source — which government dataset the field comes from - Variable name — the column name as it appears in the CSV - Definition — a plain-English explanation of what the field means

Ofsted grades use a 1–4 scale: 1 = Outstanding, 2 = Good, 3 = Requires improvement, 4 = Inadequate.
IMD/IDACI deciles use a 1–10 scale: 1 = most deprived 10% nationally, 10 = least deprived 10%.

Section 1 — School Identity

Source: Get Information About Schools (GIAS), Department for Education
https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk

Variable name Definition
URN Unique Reference Number — a permanent ID number assigned to every school in England. This is the main join key across all datasets.
la_code The numeric code for the local authority (e.g. borough) that the school belongs to.
la_name The name of the local authority the school belongs to (e.g. “Camden”, “Southwark”).
establishment_number A number that identifies the school within its local authority. Combined with la_code, it forms the LAESTAB reference used by Ofsted.
establishment_name The official name of the school.

Section 2 — School Type & Structure

Source: Get Information About Schools (GIAS), Department for Education

Variable name Definition
type_of_establishment The legal category of the school — for example, Community school, Academy converter, Free school, Voluntary aided school. This determines how the school is governed and funded.
establishment_type_group A broader grouping of school types: Local authority maintained schools, Academies, or Free Schools.
establishment_status Whether the school is currently open, closed, or proposed. This dataset contains open schools only.
phase_of_education The age range the school is designed for — Secondary (ages 11–16/18), All-through (ages 4–18), or Middle deemed secondary.
statutory_low_age The youngest age at which the school is legally required to accept pupils (typically 11 for secondary schools).
statutory_high_age The oldest age at which the school is legally required to accept pupils (typically 16 or 18).
official_sixth_form Whether the school has an official sixth form (post-16 provision for ages 16–18).
gender Whether the school admits Mixed, Boys only, or Girls only pupils.
admissions_policy How the school selects its pupils — Non-selective (open to all), or Selective (entry by academic ability, i.e. a grammar school).
religious_character Whether the school has a religious character and, if so, which faith (e.g. Church of England, Roman Catholic, Jewish). Schools with no religious affiliation are recorded as “Does not apply”.

Section 3 — School Capacity (GIAS Snapshot)

Source: Get Information About Schools (GIAS), Department for Education
Note: These figures are a snapshot from GIAS and may differ from the SCAP survey figures in Section 7. SCAP figures are preferred for capacity analysis.

Variable name Definition
school_capacity The total number of pupil places the school is registered to provide, as recorded in GIAS.
number_of_pupils The number of pupils currently enrolled at the school, as recorded in GIAS.
percentage_fsm The percentage of pupils at the school who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM). This is widely used as a proxy for the proportion of pupils from low-income households.

Section 4 — Location

Source: Get Information About Schools (GIAS), Department for Education

Variable name Definition
postcode The school’s postal address postcode.
easting The school’s map position measured east from a reference point, in the British National Grid coordinate system (metres). Used for spatial mapping.
northing The school’s map position measured north from a reference point, in the British National Grid coordinate system (metres). Used for spatial mapping.
lsoa_code Lower Layer Super Output Area code — a small geographic area containing roughly 1,500 residents, used for joining neighbourhood-level statistics such as deprivation data. Uses 2021 boundaries.
msoa_code Middle Layer Super Output Area code — a larger geographic area containing roughly 8,000 residents, used for joining mid-level neighbourhood data.
gor_name Government Office Region — the broad region of England the school is in (e.g. “London”, “South East”, “North West”).
urban_rural Whether the school is located in an urban or rural setting, and how urban/rural that setting is (e.g. “Urban major conurbation”, “Rural town and fringe”).
london_sub_region Whether the school is in Inner London, Outer London, or outside London entirely. Derived from the local authority name. Inner London includes the 14 inner boroughs; Outer London includes the remaining 19 London boroughs.

Section 5 — Ofsted Inspection Outcomes

Source: Ofsted, State-funded schools inspections and outcomes as at 31 August 2025
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/maintained-schools-and-academies-inspections-and-outcomes-official-statistics
Coverage: State-funded schools only. Independent/private schools are not inspected by Ofsted.
Note: From September 2024, Ofsted no longer issues a single overall grade for new inspections. Schools inspected only under the new report card framework will have null values for overall_effectiveness and sub-judgement fields.

Variable name Definition
laestab The combined Local Authority and Establishment number (7 digits), used by Ofsted as its primary school identifier.
idaci_quintile Ofsted’s own assignment of the school to an Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) quintile (1–5), based on the deprivation level of the area the school serves. Used internally by Ofsted for contextual comparison.
inspection_number The unique reference number for the school’s most recent graded inspection.
inspection_type The type of inspection — for example, a standard Section 5 graded inspection, or a Section 8 ungraded inspection that was converted to a graded inspection.
inspection_start_date The date the most recent graded inspection began. Inspections are typically 2 days long. Note that some schools still carry grades from pre-2019 inspections — check this field when interpreting grades.
publication_date The date Ofsted published the school’s inspection report publicly.
overall_effectiveness The school’s overall Ofsted grade from its most recent graded inspection: 1 = Outstanding, 2 = Good, 3 = Requires improvement, 4 = Inadequate. Null for schools not yet inspected under the graded framework.
ofsted_overall_label The text label for the overall_effectiveness grade (e.g. “Outstanding”, “Good”). Derived field for convenience.
category_of_concern Whether the school was placed in a formal category of concern at its last inspection — either Special Measures (most serious) or Serious Weaknesses. Blank for schools not in a category.
quality_of_education Ofsted sub-judgement grade for the quality of teaching, learning and curriculum: 1–4 scale.
behaviour_and_attitudes Ofsted sub-judgement grade for pupils’ behaviour in school and their attitudes towards learning: 1–4 scale.
personal_development Ofsted sub-judgement grade for how well the school supports pupils’ wider personal development beyond academic achievement: 1–4 scale.
effectiveness_of_leadership_and_management Ofsted sub-judgement grade for how well school leaders and governors manage and improve the school: 1–4 scale.
safeguarding_is_effective Whether Ofsted judged the school’s safeguarding arrangements to be effective (Yes/No). A “No” judgement is very serious and typically triggers a graded inspection.
sixth_form_provision Ofsted’s grade for the school’s sixth form provision, where applicable: 1–4 scale. Only populated for schools with a sixth form.
previous_inspection_start_date The start date of the school’s previous graded inspection (before the most recent one). Useful for tracking change over time.
previous_overall_effectiveness The school’s overall Ofsted grade from its previous graded inspection: 1–4 scale. Compare with overall_effectiveness to assess improvement or decline.
previous_category_of_concern Whether the school was in a category of concern at its previous inspection.
previous_quality_of_education Ofsted’s quality of education grade from the previous inspection: 1–4 scale.

Section 6 — Key Stage 4 Performance (2023/24)

Source: DfE Key Stage 4 Performance Tables, final data 2023/24
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/2023-24
Note: 2023/24 is the last year for which Progress 8 is published. Progress 8 is not available for 2024/25 or 2025/26 due to disruption to Key Stage 2 assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are used as the baseline.
All figures are for the “All pupils” breakdown.

Variable name Definition
ks4_attainment8 The school’s average Attainment 8 score. Attainment 8 measures pupils’ achievement across 8 GCSE-equivalent subjects, combining grades into a total score. The national average is around 46–50. Higher scores indicate stronger academic results.
ks4_pct_grade4_eng_maths The percentage of pupils at the school who achieved a grade 4 or above (a standard pass) in both English and maths GCSEs. Grade 4 is broadly equivalent to the old grade C. This is a key government benchmark.
ks4_pct_grade5_eng_maths The percentage of pupils who achieved a grade 5 or above (a strong pass) in both English and maths GCSEs. Grade 5 is broadly equivalent to a high C or low B under the old system.
ks4_progress8 The school’s Progress 8 score. This measures how much progress pupils made during secondary school compared to other pupils who had similar results at primary school (Key Stage 2). A score of 0 means pupils made average progress; positive scores mean better-than-expected progress; negative scores mean worse-than-expected. This is considered the most important measure of a school’s effectiveness as it adjusts for intake.
ks4_p8_lower_ci The lower bound of the 95% confidence interval around the school’s Progress 8 score. If this lower bound is above 0, the school is performing significantly above average.
ks4_p8_upper_ci The upper bound of the 95% confidence interval around the school’s Progress 8 score. If this upper bound is below 0, the school is performing significantly below average.
ks4_pct_in_p8_calc The percentage of the school’s pupils included in the Progress 8 calculation. Schools with very low percentages may have less reliable Progress 8 scores.
ks4_pct_entering_ebacc The percentage of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) — a combination of GCSEs in English, maths, sciences, a humanity, and a language. Entering does not mean passing.
ks4_pct_achieving_ebacc The percentage of pupils achieving a grade 4 or above across all EBacc subjects.
ks4_ebacc_aps The EBacc Average Points Score — the average grade pupils achieved across EBacc subjects (on a points scale). A more nuanced measure than simply pass/fail.
ks4_total_pupils The total number of pupils included in the end-of-Key Stage 4 performance data at this school.

Section 7 — School Capacity Survey (SCAP 2023/24)

Source: DfE School Capacity Survey, academic year 2023/24 (as at 1 May 2024)
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity/2023-24
Coverage: State-funded mainstream schools. Data reported by local authorities.

Mainstream capacity

Variable name Definition
scap_school_places The total number of pupil places available at the school, including sixth form places but excluding nursery places, as reported in the 2023/24 SCAP survey.
scap_pupils_on_roll The number of pupils enrolled at the school as of May 2024, taken from the School Census.
scap_unfilled_places The number of places at the school that are not filled — i.e. the difference between capacity and pupils on roll, for schools with surplus places.
scap_pct_unfilled Unfilled places as a percentage of total school capacity. A high percentage suggests the school has significant surplus capacity.
scap_pupils_over_capacity The number of pupils enrolled above the school’s official capacity. Only populated for oversubscribed schools.
scap_pct_over_capacity Pupils over capacity as a percentage of total places. A positive value indicates the school is oversubscribed.
scap_utilisation_pct Derived field: pupils on roll divided by school places, expressed as a percentage. 100% means the school is exactly at capacity; above 100% means oversubscribed; below 100% means surplus places.

Sixth form capacity

Variable name Definition
sf_capacity The number of sixth form places (Year 12–14) reported by the school. Sixth form capacity is reported voluntarily, so not all schools with sixth forms will have a value here.
sf_pupils_on_roll The number of pupils enrolled in the sixth form as of May 2024.
sf_utilisation_pct Derived field: sixth form pupils on roll divided by sixth form capacity, expressed as a percentage. Indicates how full the school’s sixth form is.

Section 8 — Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2025 (LSOA Level)

Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, English Indices of Deprivation 2025
Published October 2025. File 7: All Ranks, Scores, Deciles and Population Denominators
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2025
Joined to schools on LSOA code (2021 boundaries). Measures the deprivation level of the neighbourhood in which the school is located — not of the pupils themselves.

Variable name Definition
imd_score The overall Index of Multiple Deprivation score for the school’s neighbourhood (LSOA). Combines seven domains including income, employment, health, education, crime, housing, and environment. Higher scores indicate greater deprivation. Scores are not comparable across different editions of the IMD.
imd_rank How the school’s neighbourhood ranks among all 33,755 LSOAs in England for overall deprivation. Rank 1 is the most deprived LSOA; rank 33,755 is the least deprived.
imd_decile The school’s neighbourhood divided into ten equal groups by overall deprivation. Decile 1 = most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods nationally; Decile 10 = least deprived 10%. Easier to interpret than rank or score.
idaci_score The Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) score — the proportion of children aged 0–15 in the LSOA living in income-deprived households. Ranges from 0 to 1 (higher = more deprived children). This is the most relevant deprivation measure for school research as it focuses specifically on children.
idaci_decile The IDACI score divided into ten equal groups nationally. Decile 1 = most deprived 10% for child income deprivation; Decile 10 = least deprived 10%.
imd_education_score The Education, Skills and Training domain score from the IMD. This specifically measures deprivation related to lack of educational attainment and skills in the local area. Higher scores indicate greater educational deprivation in the neighbourhood.
imd_education_decile The Education domain score divided into ten equal groups nationally. Decile 1 = most educationally deprived 10% of neighbourhoods; Decile 10 = least deprived 10%.

Section 9 — Derived Fields

Source: Computed during database build (March 2026)
These fields do not come directly from any source dataset — they are calculated from the fields above.

Variable name Definition
ks4_attainment8_england_quartile Which quarter of English secondary schools this school falls into based on its Attainment 8 score. Q1 (lowest) = bottom 25% of schools nationally; Q4 (highest) = top 25% of schools nationally. Schools without an Attainment 8 score are excluded.
ks4_p8_category A descriptive band for the school’s Progress 8 score, making it easier to interpret: Well below average (below −0.5), Below average (−0.5 to −0.1), Average (−0.1 to +0.1), Above average (+0.1 to +0.5), Well above average (above +0.5).
idaci_pct_approx An approximate conversion of the school’s neighbourhood IDACI decile into a 0–100 percentage scale, for use in the intake-neighbourhood gap calculation. Decile 1 (most deprived) ≈ 100%; Decile 10 (least deprived) ≈ 10%.
intake_neighbourhood_gap The difference between the school’s Free School Meal percentage (percentage_fsm) and the approximate neighbourhood deprivation level (idaci_pct_approx). A negative value means the school serves a less deprived intake than the surrounding neighbourhood would suggest — indicating potential socioeconomic sorting. A positive value means the school serves a more deprived intake than its neighbourhood. This is a key variable for Sub-Research Question 2 (intake vs neighbourhood inequality). Note: currently uses GIAS FSM% as proxy; will be updated when school-level pupil characteristics data is sourced.

Section 10 — School Workforce (2024/25)

Source: DfE School Workforce in England — Pupil to teacher ratios, school level
Reporting Year 2024 (2024/25 academic year). Published June 2025.
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/12849f4a-1427-4dc2-9f7a-e069087824aa
Coverage: State-funded schools in England. Figures are full-time equivalents (FTE).

Variable name Definition
wf_pupils_fte The total number of pupils at the school, expressed as full-time equivalents (FTE). Part-time pupils are counted as a fraction of 1. This is the pupil count used to calculate teacher ratios.
wf_qualified_teachers_fte The number of qualified teachers at the school, expressed as full-time equivalents. A qualified teacher holds Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), the standard professional qualification to teach in state schools in England.
wf_teachers_fte The total number of teachers at the school, expressed as full-time equivalents. Includes both qualified teachers (with QTS) and unqualified teachers.
wf_pupil_to_qual_unqual_teacher_ratio The number of pupils for every one teacher (qualified and unqualified combined). For example, a ratio of 16 means there are 16 pupils per teacher. Lower values indicate more teaching resource per pupil. This is the primary workforce measure used in this database.

Coverage Notes

Issue Detail
Ofsted coverage Ofsted inspects state-funded schools only. Independent/private schools are not in this dataset. 77 schools in London (15%) have no Ofsted grade, typically because they are newly opened.
Inspection freshness Approximately 100 London schools still carry Ofsted grades from before 2019. Grades from 2012–2018 should be interpreted with caution as school performance may have changed. Check inspection_start_date.
KS4 coverage ~5% of schools have no KS4 data, typically schools without a Year 11 cohort (e.g. all-through schools with small secondary sections, or schools with very small cohorts below the suppression threshold).
SCAP coverage SCAP is reported by local authorities and is not always complete. A small number of schools may be missing capacity data.
IMD join IMD data is matched to schools via their LSOA code from GIAS. Three schools had no LSOA code and therefore have no IMD data. IMD measures neighbourhood deprivation, not pupil deprivation — a school in a deprived area does not necessarily serve a deprived intake (see intake_neighbourhood_gap).
Progress 8 availability Progress 8 is only available for 2023/24. It will not be published for 2024/25 or 2025/26 due to disruption to Key Stage 2 baseline assessments during COVID-19.
Workforce coverage Workforce data covers state-funded schools only and is reported for 2024/25. A small number of schools may be missing values where the school is very new or where the workforce return was not submitted. FTE figures may differ slightly from headcount figures reported elsewhere.