How many Ofsted Outstanding schools are there in England?

1,125 schools on the Department for Education's register carry an Outstanding grade from their most recent graded inspection: 736 primary and 260 secondary, with the rest nurseries, all-through and special schools.

How do I find Outstanding schools near me?

Put your postcode into the school guide and it lists every Ofsted-rated school within 3 miles, Outstanding first, with each school's rating, results and real admission distance where one is published.

Why do so many schools have no Ofsted grade?

Ofsted stopped giving new single-word overall grades in late 2024, so a school inspected since then carries a report card rather than a one-word rating. An Outstanding grade shown anywhere is the school's most recent graded inspection.

← School guide Schools

Ofsted Outstanding schools near you

1,125 of the 26,533 schools on the Department for Education's register hold an Outstanding grade from their most recent graded inspection. Put a postcode in and see every one within 3 miles, alongside the Good ones a hundred yards closer.

Find them around a postcode

The guide lists every Ofsted-rated school near the postcode, by rating and type, with exam results and the real admission distance where a council publishes one.

1,125Outstanding schools in England

736of them primary

260of them secondary

Where they are

Region	Outstanding schools
London	316
South East	181
North West	143
East of England	110
Yorkshire and The Humber	105
West Midlands	101
South West	61
East Midlands	60
North East	48

Regions are assigned from each school's own postcode. Ofsted inspects English schools only; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own inspectorates.

The districts with the most

Postcode districts with the highest count of Outstanding schools, each linked to its full school breakdown.

District	Area	Outstanding
AL5	St Albans	7	area guide →
SW19	Merton	7	area guide →
CR0	Croydon	6	area guide →
E1	Tower Hamlets	6	area guide →
E13	Newham	5	area guide →
E6	Newham	5	area guide →
N17	Haringey	5	area guide →
SE1	Southwark	5	area guide →
SE18	Greenwich	5	area guide →
ST6	Stoke-on-Trent	5	area guide →
SW6	Hammersmith and Fulham	5	area guide →
W12	Hammersmith and Fulham	5	area guide →
W3	Ealing	5	area guide →
W9	Westminster	5	area guide →
WA14	Trafford	5	area guide →

16,792 schools on the register carry no current grade, and that is not a warning sign. Ofsted stopped giving new single-word overall grades in late 2024, so any school inspected since then has a report card instead of a one-word rating. An Outstanding grade shown here is the school's most recent graded inspection, which for some schools is several years old. Read the inspection date on the school's own page before treating the grade as current.

Living near one

An Outstanding school nearby does not mean a place at it: most English schools have no fixed catchment, and places go outward from the school until they run out. Where a council publishes how far the last admitted child lived, we show it on the school's own page. And the house itself still needs checking: run the full report on any postcode for sold prices, flood risk, crime and the rest.

Ratings from Ofsted's published management information; school details from the Department for Education's register (GIAS). Read how every figure is sourced on the methodology page. If something looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.