Guides and research

Know how it works before you choose.

Plain-English guides to admissions, tests and inspections in all four nations, summaries of the research, and worked case studies from our own figures. Written and checked by the Pyxion Learn team.

Guide · Parents
How secondary school admissions work in England
Deadlines, preferences, how places are decided, offer day, waiting lists and appeals, in the order you will meet them.
England
Guide · Parents
How the 11+ works: registration, the test, scores and offers
When to register, what the test involves, what a standardised score means and how grammar schools turn scores into offers.
England, Northern Ireland
Guide · Parents
Catchment areas and “distance offered”: what they really tell you
What a catchment area guarantees (and doesn’t), how distance is measured, and how to read last year’s furthest distance.
England, Wales
Guide · Parents
Applying for a primary school place: Reception and junior school
The 15 January deadline, 16 April offer day, starting school, deferring and part-time starts.
England
Guide · Parents
Reading school inspection reports, old and new
How the new report cards in England work, why they can’t be compared with older single-word grades, and what to look for.
England
Guide · Parents
Moving house for a school place: a checklist
What to check before you buy or rent near a school, from offer distances to the rules on addresses.
All UK nations
Guide · Parents
School places in Scotland: catchment areas and placing requests
How catchment schools work in Scotland, the 15 March placing-request deadline, decisions and appeals.
Scotland
Guide · Parents
Post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland
The transfer test, results in January, applying for a post-primary place, and how schools choose between applicants.
Northern Ireland
Guide · Parents
School admissions in Wales
Common offer dates, applying to your council, Welsh-medium and English-medium choices.
Wales
Guide · Students
Choosing GCSE options: a short guide for students
What is compulsory, how to choose the rest, and how today’s choices affect sixth form and university.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland
Guide · Students
After GCSEs: sixth form, college, apprenticeships and UCAS dates
Your options at 16, what to compare, and the university application deadlines for 2027 entry.
All UK nations
Research summary · Everyone
What the research says about tutoring
A summary of the evidence on one-to-one and small-group tuition: how much it helps, and what makes it work.
All UK nations
Research summary · Everyone
Grammar schools and social mobility: what the research found
A summary of the Education Policy Institute’s 2016 analysis of grammar schools, attainment and disadvantaged pupils.
England
Research summary · Everyone
Ed-tech in schools: what the evidence says works
A summary of the EEF’s guidance on using digital technology to improve learning, and what parents can ask.
All UK nations
Case study · Parents
Case study: Birmingham and Lincolnshire grammar schools compared
A worked example: 23 grammar schools in two areas, compared on results, competition for places and intake.
England
Case study · Parents
Case study: how an offer distance shrank three years running
A worked example from one Birmingham grammar school, and why one year’s distance is a poor guide.
England
Guide · Tuition providers
For tuition providers: reaching families who are choosing schools
How a free Pyxion Learn page works, where it appears, and how we report what it brings you each month.
All UK nations