As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly compare primary schools in the UK.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open GOV.UK, Ofsted and the websites of the schools you are considering, then record the school names, areas and links to their admissions, inspection and published-information pages.
   2. Write down your home area, maximum journey, likely start date, transport limits, wraparound-care needs and any support your child may need.
   3. Paste the school list, your priorities and the source links into a chatbot with the prompt above.
   4. Ask the chatbot to separate sourced facts from interpretation and to identify any missing or conflicting information rather than filling gaps.
   5. Compare the drafted table against the current GOV.UK, Ofsted and school pages, correcting admissions arrangements, dates, results and facilities that have changed.
   6. Contact the local authority and each school to confirm application rules, catchment information, places, support provision and wraparound care before treating the comparison as complete.
   7. Visit the realistic options and use the chatbot's questions to record what you observe and what staff tell you, then make your decision using your own priorities.

   Prompt

   Help me compare these UK primary schools: [school names and areas].
   
   My circumstances and priorities are:
   - Home area or postcode district: [area]
   - Maximum acceptable journey and transport: [details]
   - Child's age and expected start date: [details]
   - Important needs, including special educational needs or disabilities: [details]
   - Priorities, ranked: [for example pastoral care, academic support, outdoor space, wraparound care, faith provision, clubs and size]
   
   Use only information you can support with a current, named source. Prefer GOV.UK, Ofsted and each school's own website. Give a source link beside every factual claim, and label anything that is unknown, dated, inferred or based on opinion. Do not invent statistics, admissions rules, catchment boundaries, vacancies, fees or inspection conclusions. Do not rank the schools using one measure alone.
   
   Create:
   1. A table comparing admissions arrangements, published performance information, inspection information, school size, reported facilities, wraparound care and any other relevant facts.
   2. A separate comparison against my priorities, explaining where the evidence is weak or not comparable.
   3. Questions I should ask each school and things I should check on a visit.
   4. A short list of what I must verify directly with the local authority or schools before applying.
   
   If you cannot access current web sources, say so and give me a research checklist instead of filling gaps. This is planning help, not a recommendation or a guarantee of suitability.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.