Methodology
The WTS Trust Score, explained.
A 0–100 number that parents can hand to a partner and journalists can hand to an editor. No proprietary black box.
40%
Official inspection rating
40%
Verified academic data
20%
Editorial verdict
01
Official inspection rating
40/100
The most-recent published inspection by Ofsted (for state schools) or ISI (the Independent Schools Inspectorate, for English independents). Ofsted 'Outstanding' scores the maximum 40 points; 'Good' 32; 'Requires Improvement' 20; 'Inadequate' 8. An ISI Routine Inspection maps to 34 points (regulatory standards met + educational quality inspection framework). Reports older than 5 years lose 2 points to reflect that a school's culture can shift between inspection cycles.
02
Verified academic data
40/100
Where the school's cohort takes the full state curriculum, we use official DfE Key Stage 4 outcomes — Progress 8 (a value-added score) and Attainment 8 (average GCSE grade across 8 subjects). A Progress 8 of +1.0 or an Attainment 8 of 80+ each score the full 40 points. Where a school pivots to iGCSEs or Pre-U (which DfE excludes from the calculation), we fall back to our editorial academic assessment, capped at 30 of a possible 40 points — parents should see that verifiable data is worth more than a critic's word.
03
Editorial verdict
20/100
Every school in the ranking earns a three-line committed verdict: right for, wrong for, watch out for. A complete verdict scores 15 points; partial verdicts scale linearly. A top-tier editorial overall score adds up to 5 further points. If we've not yet published a verdict, this component is zero.
Reading the score
Bands, in plain English
State grammar with 'Outstanding' Ofsted + Progress 8 well above +1.0. Rare.
Top state grammars, or English independents with strong published DfE + ISI-inspected + a committed editorial verdict.
Solid state-verified data or an independent with unusually strong editorial + full inspection.
Typical for a top-300 independent: ISI-inspected + editorial confidence but with the DfE-cap trade-off.
One component missing or an older inspection cycle.
Not enough verified data or public inspection to defend a higher grade — often schools in jurisdictions we don't yet cover (Scotland, Wales).
Confidence label
What "verified" actually means
Beneath the number we publish a confidence label — high, partial, or editorial-only. It reflects how much of the score came from independently-verified sources (Ofsted, ISI, DfE) versus our editorial assessment. When a school suppresses public data, we say so; we don't fill the gap with a guess.
Coverage
Currently UK-only
The Trust Score launches for the 63 UK schools in our top-1000 because that's where we have three independent evidence sources. As we onboard equivalent inspection + verified-data feeds for the US, Switzerland, UAE and Singapore we'll expand — and we'll never fake a Trust Score from editorial data alone.
Have a question about a school's score? Write to the editor →
See the Trust-Score rankings