Privacy

The School Companion is a free website that helps parents compare schools. We collect as little about you as we can. This page explains what we keep, why, and how to have it removed.

Last updated 9 October 2026.

Who we are

The School Companion (theschoolcompanion.org) is responsible for the information described here. Contact us at info@theschoolcompanion.org about anything on this page.

If you leave a review

We ask for your email address so we can send you a link to confirm the review is genuine. Your email address is never shown on the site or shared with the school. Reviews count for two years; after that the review is deleted, along with your email address. If you never confirm a review, it is deleted after 30 days. We'll also delete a review sooner if you ask us to.

If you ask to be notified about a school

We keep your email address, which school you asked about, and when you signed up, confirmed and were last emailed. We use it only to email you news about that school, such as a reply to one of our Freedom of Information requests or a new Ofsted report.

• Nothing is sent until you click the link in our confirmation email. If you don't, your address is deleted within 30 days.
• Every email has a link to stop them. Our legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time that way.
• We never sell or share your address, and never use it for anything else.

Searches and pages viewed

To understand which areas and schools parents are interested in, we count searches and school page views. This is anonymous. We don't store IP addresses or visitor IDs, a postcode is cut down to its first half (for example RM11), and page views are kept only as a daily total for each school.

Cookies and analytics

We use Google Analytics to see how the site is used, but only if you choose "Accept" on the cookie banner. If you choose "No thanks", no analytics cookies are set. We store your choice in a small cookie so we don't ask again.

Where your information is kept

On our web host's servers (GoDaddy). Emails are sent through our web host's mail service.

Your rights

You can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it, by emailing info@theschoolcompanion.org. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.