Schools Search API

The Schools Search API provides access to data on over 51,000 UK schools. Search by postcode to find nearby schools with comprehensive details including Ofsted ratings, Progress 8 scores, pupil numbers, age ranges, and contact information.

Data included for each school:

• Basic info — school name, URN, type, phase (Primary/Secondary/All through/16 plus), gender, religious character
• Ofsted data — overall Ofsted rating (Outstanding/Good/Requires improvement/Inadequate) and date of last inspection
• Performance — Progress 8 score and category for secondary schools
• Capacity — number of pupils, school capacity, age range (statutory low/high age)
• Contact — full address, postcode, telephone, website, headteacher name
• Location — coordinates (lat/lng) and distance from search postcode in miles
• Summary stats — Ofsted rating breakdown and phase breakdown for all results

This API is ideal for:

• Property platforms showing nearby schools on listings
• Relocation services helping families find schools
• Estate agents providing catchment area information
• Education technology platforms and school comparison tools
• Property investors assessing area desirability for families

All requests to the Schools Search API require authentication using an API key. You can obtain your API key from your PropertyInsights dashboard after subscribing to an API plan.

Include your API key in the request header as follows:

X-API-Key: your_api_key_here

Base URL

https://propertyinsights.co.uk/api/v1/

/schools/search

Successful chargeable JSON responses include a top-level billing object. The endpoint examples on this page focus on the endpoint-specific data, so this repeated block may not be shown in every example.

"billing": {
  "mode": "prepaid",
  "creditsCharged": 1,
  "creditsRemaining": 1999,
  "creditsRefreshAt": "2026-08-14T09:30:00.000Z"
}

All authenticated API-key calls expose the billing headers, including validation errors and zero-credit status or management requests. Only successful chargeable JSON responses add the billing object to the response body.

The response is returned in JSON format with the following structure:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "schools": [ ... ],
    "summary": {
      "totalResults": 15,
      "searchRadius": 1,
      "searchPostcode": "SW1A 2AA",
      "ofstedBreakdown": {
        "Outstanding": 2,
        "Good": 8,
        "Requires improvement": 3
      },
      "phaseBreakdown": {
        "Primary": 10,
        "Secondary": 5
      }
    }
  }
}

schools (array)

Each item in the array represents a single school, sorted by distance from the search postcode.

{
  "urn": 140123,
  "name": "Westminster Academy",
  "phase": "Secondary",
  "type": "Academy sponsor led",
  "typeGroup": "Academies",
  "address": {
    "street": "15 Horseferry Road",
    "locality": "Westminster",
    "town": "London",
    "county": "Greater London",
    "postcode": "SW1A 2AB"
  },
  "ofstedRating": "Good",
  "ofstedLastInspection": "2024-03-15",
  "progress8Score": 0.45,
  "progress8Category": "Above average",
  "pupils": 1200,
  "capacity": 1350,
  "ageRange": {
    "low": 11,
    "high": 18
  },
  "gender": "Mixed",
  "religiousCharacter": "Does not apply",
  "admissionsPolicy": "Non-selective",
  "hasSixthForm": true,
  "website": "https://www.westminsteracademy.org.uk",
  "telephone": "020 7123 4567",
  "headteacher": {
    "title": "Mrs",
    "firstName": "Jane",
    "lastName": "Smith"
  },
  "coordinates": {
    "lat": 51.4975,
    "lng": -0.1357
  },
  "distance": 0.3
}

The API uses standard HTTP status codes to indicate the success or failure of requests.

Error Response Example

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_POSTCODE",
    "message": "Could not geocode the provided postcode. Please check it is a valid UK postcode."
  }
}