What matters most to parents choosing a school?

What makes parents choose one school over another?

Is it all about location? Do Ofsted reports play a role? Or is, as some school leaders believe, word of mouth the deciding factor?

The answer is more complicated — and the statistics behind parent choice tell a story that most school leadership teams are missing.

Do Gen Z parents care more about word of mouth?

There is a generational gap in how families choose schools, and research shows that Gen Z parents don't necessarily value the same things that parents before them valued.

One recent eye-catching headline from The Times asserted that "Gen Z parents trust TikTok over Ofsted when choosing schools". Behind that headline was data from the Good Schools Guide, which found that only 21 per cent of Gen Z parents use Ofsted reports to help them choose their child's school. Instead, 33 per cent of Gen Z parents turned to parenting forums for advice, opinions and recommendations. 

[Parents] want to know what it is actually like to go to the schools on their shortlist.

The Good Schools Guide

How much do parents care about Ofsted when choosing schools?

Gen Z care more about word of mouth than Ofsted reports, but the importance of Ofsted is overstated even amongst older parents. 

What many school leaders miss is that parents typically use Ofsted reports as a filter. An Ofsted report rarely makes or breaks the case for a school. Instead, parents use it as supporting evidence to bolster cases for (or against) schools that are already on their shortlists.

The Parent Voice Project (England's largest parent survey, representing the views of over 6,000 parents of school-aged children) found that only 25 per cent of parents looked at Ofsted reports... and when they did, they viewed the results with some scepticism.

Parents felt that reports provided a snapshot rather than a full picture, and did not necessarily reflect the pastoral culture or the day-to-day experience of children. In addition, focus groups show that parents largely value the school’s reputation in the local area and fit over formal data. [...] Data sources like Ofsted or performance tables tend to play a supporting, not deciding, role. Taken together, the data suggest that school choice is driven less by formal accountability measures and more by everyday experience – by what parents see, hear and trust within their own communities.

The Parent Voice Project

Parents of children with SEND care about inclusion and support

Parents value different factors depending on their own backgrounds and the background of their child, and nowhere is this more apparent than with parents of children with SEND.

39 per cent of parents of children with SEND say that the availability of SEN support is the most important factor to them when choosing a school, compared to just 3 per cent of parents of children without SEND (Parent, pupil and learner voice, 2025).

This remains true even once a child is enrolled: 48 per cent of parents of children with SEND have considered moving their child to a different school or education setting, compared with 27 per cent of parents of children without SEND. Among parents who have considered a move, SEN support is one of the biggest factors, with 54 per cent of parents of children with SEND saying it influenced their decision.

SEN support is one of the strongest marketing tools many schools have, yet we recently discovered that many don't advertise it when trying to fill school places.

Does location matter to parents when choosing schools?

One thing most studies agree on is that the location of a school matters to parents. The same Parent Voice Project that found parents care less about Ofsted results found that location topped the list of things parents considered when choosing a school for their child.

This can be frustrating for school leaders, as location is the factor least under their control. A school can improve its word of mouth, open days and academic performance, but its physical location is set in stone — or brick.

However, while schools can't change location, school marketing teams can make sure that they're reaching the parents close by. In a recent blog post about increasing school enrolment, we analysed how many schools are not making the most of location-based marketing. According to the Gov.uk "Parent, pupil and learner voice" in 2025, 70 per cent of parents prefer schools closer to home, so schools should make the most of the location-based targeting in tools like Google Ads to reach those parents — not the ones 15 miles away.

Why does school reputation matter to parents?

A second look at the chart up above shows that "local school reputation" is second only to location in the list of what parents care about when choosing a school. But what is school reputation?

It isn't Ofsted ratings or inspection reports: those make the list lower down, in sixth place. It's also not recommendations from family (eighth place) or league tables and exam results (ninth place). But if reputation doesn't refer to academic performance, Ofsted reports or family opinion, what does it refer to?

The answer can be found at the beginning of this blog post: word of mouth from existing parents is powerful. Parents are increasingly more interested in the experiences of other parents, ones whose children are already enrolled at a school. 

Research suggests parents typically prioritise:

1. Location

2. Local reputation

3. School ethos and culture

4. Experiences shared by existing parents

5. SEND support (for families who need it)

6. Ofsted ratings

7. Academic performance data

The importance of each factor varies from family to family, but the most recent data is clear: reputation and parent experience influence decisions more than many school leaders realise.

As school leaders look to fill places, they should ask themselves: how do existing parents talk about the school? Would it make prospective parents want to enrol their own child... or would it scare them away?

Schools can turn existing parents into advocates. Read our piece on reputation (and why parents see it differently) to learn more about creating good word of mouth.