School Profiles: What Is Replacing Compare School Performance

If you have used the government's Compare School and College Performance site, you may hear that it is being replaced. Here is what the Department for Education (DfE) has said, what we could check for ourselves, and what we could not.

In its September 2025 response to its school accountability consultation, the DfE said it will develop school profiles as a digital service. It planned to test a pilot in the 2025/26 academic year, with the aim of launching publicly in 2026/27. Its equality impact assessment says that, in time, school profiles will replace Compare School and College Performance.

In that response, the DfE said it intended to close the old service only once the new one was working to a sufficient standard. The Association of School and College Leaders also describes a gradual phase-out.

The DfE has since said more. Its key stage 4 statistics release, published on 15 October 2026, says the old service "will close soon", that a new service will be available "from autumn 2026", and that data on the old service "will not be updated past the 2024/25 academic year". That release does not name the new service.

The DfE describes its latest school performance data, closely integrated with Ofsted's report cards, as the core of a profile. It also says profiles will give parents more information about what a school does, including achievement and attendance, and that it will look at how to include pupil wellbeing and a school's enrichment offer. These are stated plans, and the live service may differ.

We could not confirm that it is. On 7 November 2026, GOV.UK's page for comparing schools and colleges in England still linked to the old service, and we found no DfE announcement of a launch. A test version named "Find and compare school and college profiles" was online that day, marked as a beta. A test site is not a launch, so we would not rely on it for a decision.

GOV.UK's page is the place to check. If its link changes, that is a strong sign the switch has been made.

Don't wait for the new service. GOV.UK says the old one shows exam and test results, Ofsted reports and financial information, but remember the DfE says its data will not be updated past 2024/25. For key stage 4 results, the same DfE release says the latest school-level data can be viewed through its table tool in the meantime. If a school is oversubscribed, the place itself depends on its admission criteria and, often, how far it admitted, which that list does not name.

In England, Reception applications close on 15 January 2027: see our Reception checklist. To look at chances for your own address, use our catchment area checker.

GOV.UK's page says it covers England and points to separate websites for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. School Atlas covers all four nations, using each nation's own published figures where we hold them.