Methodology

This page explains exactly how facts on this site are sourced, what the verification badges mean, and how often things get updated. If you only read one page on this site before trusting a number from it, make it this one.

What "verified" means here

Every factual claim on this site falls into one of a few buckets, and we try to make which bucket visible rather than presenting everything with the same confidence:

• Sourced and confirmed. Drawn from a primary source — a school's own official page, a government record (DfE Get Information About Schools, Ofsted), or a directly-quoted news report — and cited. These claims appear without a badge.
• Partly verified. We found a source, but it was ambiguous, secondary rather than primary, or we couldn't fully cross-check it. Marked with a "partly verified" badge.
• Sources conflict. Two credible sources gave different figures and we couldn't resolve which was right. We report both rather than picking one — marked "sources conflict."
• Not independently confirmed. We looked and couldn't find a reliable public source. Marked "verify with school" rather than left blank or guessed.

We would rather show a gap than fill it with a plausible-sounding guess — that standard applies most strictly to admissions requirements and deadlines, where a wrong number could cost someone a real application.

Where the facts come from

School websites

Primary source for admissions, ethos, curriculum, and each school's own reported results.

DfE Get Information About Schools

URNs, capacity, roll, boarding status, headteacher — the government register of every English school.

Ofsted reports

Inspection ratings and dates, read from the official report where possible.

News coverage

University press offices, local and national press — used for context, leadership changes and events, always attributed.

U-Maths' own published figures

Network-wide statistics, explicitly labelled as the network's own reporting rather than independent verification — see our research section for what that distinction means in practice.

How often this updates

This site was compiled in July 2026. Results pages get a scheduled refresh every August around national results day. Admissions pages should be treated as most reliable close to publication and re-checked against the school's own site as deadlines approach, since these change year to year. If you notice something out of date, let us know.

Corrections

If you work at one of these schools, or you're an applicant or parent who's spotted something wrong, we want to hear about it — see contact. We'd rather fix a mistake than defend one.