Data study

UK Towns With the Best Schools: Ofsted Ranking (2026)

Updated 29 May 2026

Cheltenham tops our 2026 ranking: 82.5% of its 63 inspected schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, the highest share of any town with a meaningful sample. Lancaster (75.8% of 165 schools) and London (73.0% of 2,335 schools) follow. We aggregated every school's latest Ofsted grade by the postcode outcodes that make up each town.

Top 20 UK towns by share of schools rated Good or Outstanding (towns with 15 or more inspected schools)

Rank	Town	Schools analysed	% Good or Outstanding	Outstanding count
1	Cheltenham	63	82.5%	18
2	Lancaster	165	75.8%	28
3	London	2,335	73.0%	602
4	Harrogate	64	71.9%	15
5	Gloucester	219	71.2%	35
6	Liverpool	650	69.8%	142
7	Chester	305	69.8%	59
8	Southampton	197	69.0%	40
9	Carlisle	199	67.3%	22
10	Newcastle upon Tyne	551	66.6%	111
11	Milton Keynes	215	66.5%	42
12	Reading	297	66.0%	53
13	Bournemouth	233	65.2%	56
14	Exeter	245	64.5%	33
15	Salisbury	115	63.5%	18
16	Lincoln	131	63.4%	21
17	Cambridge	157	63.1%	24
18	Sunderland	86	62.8%	12
19	York	248	62.5%	38
20	Bath	181	62.4%	31

The headline findings

Cheltenham leads the table: of its 63 inspected schools, 82.5% hold a Good or Outstanding grade from Ofsted. That is a higher proportion than any other town in our sample with at least 15 inspected schools.

Lancaster is second on 75.8% across a much larger base of 165 schools, and London is third on 73.0% across 2,335 schools, the largest sample of any area we looked at. Several smaller cathedral and university towns, including Harrogate and Gloucester, also score above 71%.

Why share matters more than reputation

House-price premiums near well-rated schools are real, but a town's reputation does not always match the data. Ranking by the share of schools that are Good or Outstanding rewards areas where most families have a strong local option, not just one or two famous schools.

Bigger cities carry larger samples, so their percentages are more stable. A town such as Cheltenham scoring 82.5% across 63 schools is a clear signal of consistent local quality, while areas with only a handful of inspected schools can swing on a single result, which is why we set a minimum sample.

Methodology

We used Ofsted inspection grades sourced from the Department for Education's Get Information about Schools (GIAS) register. Each school was assigned to a town using its postcode outcode (the letters and first digits before the space, for example CR0 or LA1), matched against the outcode list that defines each town in our dataset.

For every town we counted schools with a current Ofsted grade of Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate, then calculated the percentage rated Good or Outstanding. Schools without a published grade (for example newly opened schools awaiting inspection) were excluded from the percentage. The table is limited to towns with at least 15 inspected schools so that each percentage rests on a meaningful sample.

Check the schools near a specific address

A town-level league table is a useful starting point, but admissions are decided street by street. A free HomeBuyerCheck report shows the nearest schools to any specific UK address with their Ofsted ratings, alongside flood risk, crime and whether the property sits in a coal mining reporting area, so you can judge a home rather than a town average.

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Frequently asked questions

Which UK town has the best schools in 2026?

On our measure of the share of schools rated Good or Outstanding, Cheltenham ranks first: 82.5% of its 63 inspected schools hold one of the top two Ofsted grades. Lancaster (75.8%) and London (73.0%) are next.

How were these school rankings calculated?

We took each school's latest Ofsted grade from the Department for Education's Get Information about Schools register, assigned it to a town by postcode outcode, then calculated the percentage of inspected schools rated Good or Outstanding. Only towns with 15 or more inspected schools are ranked.

Why is London not first if it has so many top schools?

This table ranks by the proportion of schools that are Good or Outstanding, not the raw number. London has by far the most Outstanding schools, but across 2,335 inspected schools its share is 73.0%, behind Cheltenham and Lancaster. We rank by raw Outstanding count in a separate study.

Does living near a good school affect house prices?

It often does. Demand for catchment areas around well-rated schools can support higher prices and faster sales, though admissions usually depend on distance and the school's own criteria rather than the wider town average.

How do I find the schools near a specific property?

Run a free HomeBuyerCheck report for the address. It lists the nearest schools with their Ofsted ratings, plus flood risk, crime and coal mining checks, so you can assess a particular home rather than the town as a whole.