Gathering Information

The best place to start is here on this site. Our advanced School Search is a searchable database of ISC member schools. Using this search facility guarantees that only schools which are fully accredited and regularly inspected appear in your search results.

Telephone, email or write to the schools that you are interested in to request a copy of their prospectus and any supplementary information you need, and visit the school's own website. These will give you the basic facts - its fees, number of children, entry requirements, subjects, facilities and so on. The prospectus should also state the school's objectives and encourage you to visit.

A DVD or video prospectus can be helpful for parents overseas who cannot easily visit, but be careful not to judge a school entirely on its video.

Many schools publish a school magazine to record their activities. A few use it as a prospectus. The magazine can give a flavour of life at the school, but don't be put off if some of it requires inside knowledge to make sense.

Consult the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) website to see whether the schools in which you are interested have had a recent ISI inspection. Summaries of ISI inspection reports are supplied automatically to parents of children in inspected schools; full reports are available on request. Reports since 1999 are also available to prospective parents on the ISI website.