The evidence, honestly framed
The sector's headline numbers are real. What they do and don't prove is a separate question — this is where we try to answer it properly, with sources.
The history of UK maths schools
A 2011 Treasury pitch, two schools for six years, a false-start revival under Theresa May, then a real expansion from 2020 — the policy history behind the schools on this site, sourced.
Do maths schools add value?
The question every headline statistic in this sector avoids: how much of the outcome is the school, and how much is who walked in the door?
Destinations and university progression
What we could actually verify about where maths-school leavers go next — and the DfE dataset that no longer breaks this out officially.
Ofsted across the network
Every maths school's Ofsted status in one place — including a framework nuance that changes how these ratings should be read.
Oxbridge progression rates
Every Oxbridge progression figure we could source, school by school, next to the network-wide claim they sit alongside.
Primary sources we build on
- 1.Ofsted inspection reports — https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ (one per school, free on gov.uk)
- 2.DfE Get Information About Schools — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/ (URNs, capacity, roll, status)
- 3.Get Information About Schools (GIAS) — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/ (The government register of every English school and academy — URN, address, capacity, roll, boarding status, headteacher. The source for most structural facts on this site.)
- 4.Compare School and College Performance — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/ (DfE's attainment data (grades, value-added, retention) for 16-18 providers. Most recent release covers 2024/25 leavers.)
- 5.16-18 Destination Measures — https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/16-18-destination-measures (Tracks sustained destinations (employment, further study) for students who completed 16-18 study, with an 18-month-plus lag — the latest edition covers 2022/23 leavers.)
- 6.Progression to Higher Education or Training — https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/progression-to-higher-education-or-training/2023-24 (The most granular official destinations dataset. Important: DfE's own methodology notes say it previously published an Oxbridge/Russell Group breakdown but stopped, "as these are no longer accountability measures" — it now reports progression to "top third" institutions by entry tariff instead. There is currently no official government dataset that publishes an Oxbridge % or Russell Group % by name.)
- 7.The Impact of Selective Secondary Education on Progression to Higher Education — https://www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/the-impact-of-selective-secondary-education-on-progression-to-higher-education/ (HEPI Occasional Paper 19, 10 January 2019)
- 8.The Observatory for Mathematical Education — https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/observatory/what-we-do.aspx (founded Late 2023, University of Nottingham)
- 9.U-Maths impact data — https://umaths.ac.uk/impact/ (the network's own figures — labelled as such throughout this site)