At the moment, there is no complete directory of schools available on the Internet. If you want to find which schools are in your area, or look up private, boarding, special or specialist schools, there are a number of directories available which, when combined, cover almost every school in the UK.

NURSERY SCHOOLS

Many primary schools have nursery classes attached to them. For more information on these see our sections on state and independent schools below.

The following sites offer online search facilities to help you locate nursery schools:

ChildcareLink is a government-backed site with an online database of nursery schools, day nurseries, childminders, playgroups and out of school childcare in England, Wales and Scotland. Each search will pull up contact numbers for local Childcare Information Services, which you can ring for comprehensive listings. Type in your full home postcode or choose an area on the map, then click on ‘Childcare Search’.

You can also find out more about nursery education in the state and private sectors 'Childcare Outside the Home' in Childcare Options.

For inspection reports of state and private nurseries and Early Excellence centres in England, visit the OFSTED site.

STATE SCHOOLS

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Parent Centre website has a school search facility which pulls up schools by name or postcode, as well as each school’s corresponding performance table results and OFSTED reports.

The National Grid for Learning Scotland has a searchable directory of Scottish schools on its website.

The Good Schools Guide Directory provides contact and examination information where available for all UK schools. The search facility allows you to look for schools by name, location, specialist provision and features, LEA and league table results with additional filters as your search progresses. This new site is an adjunct to the Good Schools Guide site, which offers independent advice on choosing schools, excellent links and, for a fee, access to detailed reports on selected schools - mostly independent, with an increasing number of state schools - from the Good Schools Guide itself. You can find out which schools they cover on the website but if you want the reports you will have to buy the book or subscribe online. The site also has a good schools list page - see Schools Lists and Guides under Links.

SchoolsNet has a database of over 22,000 schools. It searches for state primary, state secondary, independent and independent preparatory schools and provides a variety of information, including contact details, number of pupils, background of the school, discipline, uniform, Key Stage results, attendance, special educational needs fulfilment and the school’s examination results.

Schoolsdirectory.com lists primary, middle, secondary, and independent schools (but not nursery schools) in any given area. You can search here by postcode, place names or school name, and you can do an advanced search which allows you to look for a particular type of school, such as single sex or co-educational, boarding or day school. It provides the standard information about school (size, performance table results and OFSTED reports) and gives contact details. You will need to put in your full postcode, e.g. W10 6BN, in order to bring up a list of schools in your area.

INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS

The following sites allow you to search for independent schools through out the UK. If you are interested in inspection reports for independent schools, please see our information in 'Inspections'.

The Good Schools Guide Directory provides contact and examination information where available for all UK schools. The search facility allows you to look for schools by name, location, specialist provision and features, LEA and league table results with additional filters as your search progresses. This excellent new site is an adjunct to the Good Schools Guide site, which offers independent advice on choosing schools, excellent links and, for a fee, access to detailed reports on selected schools from the Good Schools Guide itself. You can find out which schools they cover on the website but if you want the reports you will have to buy the book or subscribe online. The site also has a good schools list page - see Schools Lists and Guides under Links.

The Independent Schools Council Information Service is a good place to start. The site has a 1,300-school database and allows you to perform a simple search or an advanced search by area, category, age range, religion, setting and the type of scholarships available.

The Independent Schools Directory contains information for over 2,000 schools in the UK, making it the largest database of independent schools. It has a search facility with links to school websites, where they exist, and allows you to e-mail schools directly from the site.

SchoolsNet has a database of over 22,000 schools. To search this directory, click first on the map, then on an area and then on a district. It searches for state primary, state secondary, independent and independent preparatory schools and provides a variety of information, including contact details, number of pupils, background of the school, discipline, uniform, Key Stage results, attendance, special educational needs fulfilment and the school’s examination results.

The Scottish Council of Independent Schools site has a search facility where you can look for schools by location or type. The National Grid for Learning Scotland has a searchable directory of Scottish schools on its website.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS

The excellent Fulton Special Education Digest special schools database is now available online, searchable by location and by specific SEN provision. You can also order the book and others in the Fulton catalogue from the site.

The Good Schools Guide Directory provides contact and examination information where available for all UK schools. Its features search allows you to look for special schools using a number of filters, from location and age range to more individual considerations.

The National Grid for Learning Scotland has a searchable directory of Scottish schools on its website, where you can look for SEN schools.

See our section on Special Education Needs for further information.

SPECIALIST SCHOOLS

You can find a directory of specialist schools, which focus on technology, sport, arts or languages, on the DfES website. You can sort the spreadsheet this brings up by school name, LEA and specialisation.

(NB. This link takes you to an Excel spreadsheet and will say, ‘The document you are about tocontains macros. Some macros may contain harmful viruses. If you are sure this document is from a trusted source, click Yes. If you are not sure and want to prevent any macros from running, click No.’ The ‘macros’ enable you to sort the spreadsheet by LEA, school or specialist subject – useful if you are looking for a specialist school in your area. If you choose not to enable the ‘macros’ you will only be able to view the list. However, as the link is to a ‘trusted source’ (the DfES), it should be fine to click, ‘Yes’.)

Visit our Specialist Schools section for more information.

BOARDING SCHOOLS

The Good Schools Guide Directory provides contact and examination information where available for all UK schools. Its features search facility allows you to look for boarding schools by name, location, specialist provision and features, and a number of other filters. This excellent new site is an adjunct to the Good Schools Guide site, which offers independent advice on choosing schools, excellent links and, for a fee, access to detailed reports on selected independent and state schools from the Good Schools Guide itself.

The Guide to UK Boarding Schools has an online search facility that may be useful if you are looking for a specific type of boarding school - one, for example, that has particular facilities, learning support for dyslexic students or horse riding. The site is not comprehensive so you may find additional schools through the independent school databases.

At state boarding schools, parents pay the cost of boarding but the education is free, making the overall fee a fraction of the cost of boarding schools in the independent sector. You can find a directory of schools on the State Boarding Information Service (STABIS) website.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

The International Schools Services publishes ‘The Directory of Overseas Schools: The Comprehensive Guide to K-12 American and International Schools Worldwide’ annually, which you can purchase on its website. The site also lists contact details for a selection of international schools online.

LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AUTHORITIES

The Department for Education and Skills publishes a full A-Z list with contact details and website addresses for all of the Local Education Authorities in the UK.