openday
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School admissions, made clear

Your clear path
to the right school

Explore 24,000+ schools across England, then build one calm family plan around open days, deadlines and applications.

Find, shortlist and compare schools. Track visits, dates and applications in one calm place.

School admissions shouldn’t feel this hard/Three problems

School admissions gets complicated, fast.

What starts as finding a school can quickly become a lot to make sense of.

A parent stretched between a laptop, an email, a school, notepads, a checklist, a calendar and a ringing phone, each pulling in a different direction.
01Scattered

Everything is everywhere.

School websites, council pages, emails, forms and dates. The information you need rarely lives in one place.

A small figure standing among many different schools, surrounded by criss-crossing arrows, calendars, notes and question marks.
02Confusing

So many schools. So much to weigh up.

Admissions rules, open days, journeys, inspections, notes and impressions. Comparing your options quickly gets complicated.

A parent almost buried beneath a rising pile of paperwork, letters, browser windows, calendars and forms.
03Overwhelming

And somehow, you have to keep on top of it all.

Deadlines, forms, visits and next steps pile up, while you’re trying not to miss something important.

It doesn’t have to feel like this.

openday brings your schools, research, visits, deadlines and applications together in one calm place — so you always know where you are, and what needs your attention next.

Key Dates
The journey · six steps

The school admissions journey, step by step.

Dates for
Discover
Spring–SummerSpring–Summer

Find schools near you using your postcode.

Shortlist
SummerSummer

Save the schools that feel right.

Visit
AutumnAutumn

Attend open days and ask questions.

Compare
Autumn–WinterAutumn

Weigh up each school and decide.

Apply
15 Jan31 Oct

Submit your application before the deadline.

Decide
16 Apr1 Mar

Hear back, then accept your place.

Key dates shown for England admissions.

Start · you are here

1
Spring–SummerSpring–Summer

Discover

Enter your postcode and see every nearby school in one place — no rankings, no nudging.

2
SummerSummer

Shortlist

Save the ones that feel right and keep them together, so your thinking stays tidy.

3
AutumnAutumn

Visit

Walk the corridors, ask your questions, and picture your child there. Dates land in your calendar.

4
Autumn–WinterAutumn

Compare

Capture impressions while they're fresh and weigh your shortlist side by side.

5
15 Jan31 Oct

Apply

Apply to your chosen schools — every deadline tracked, so nothing slips through.

6
16 Apr1 Mar

Decide

Offers arrive together. Accept the place that suits your family best.

Offer day · decision made

Key dates shown for England admissions.

New to the process? Read the plain-English guides — admissions, appeals, waiting lists.

01 / DISCOVER

Every school, plainly set out.

Enter your postcode and see every nearby school in one place — open days, faith policies, Ofsted inspections and admissions details, without jumping between dozens of websites.

No rankings. No recommendations. Just the information you need to build your own shortlist.

Live openday Discover page for postcode HA7 3LX filtered to Reception — nearby primary schools on a map centred on the searched postcode with distance rings, alongside a results list sorted by distance with Ofsted ratings.
openday shortlist — four saved primary schools ticked for comparison, with the compare table below showing them side by side across type, ages, intake, Ofsted inspection, how you apply and deadlines.
02 / SHORTLIST & COMPARE

A clearer way to choose.

Save your favourites, remember what stood out, and compare the details that matter to your family — without juggling tabs, spreadsheets, notes, and open-day leaflets.

03 / PLAN

Every school, form, visit, and deadline in one place.

School admissions involve open days, notes, supplementary forms, application deadlines, and preference orders. openday keeps everything organised so you always know what needs attention next.

openday planning workspace — shortlisted schools, admissions progress, open days, deadlines and next actions
How it's used/Three journeys

Three ways parents use openday

Whatever your admissions year looks like, the planner bends to it — not the other way round.

The first-time parent

Five open days saved, the SIF read, and a growing sense of which school fits — without a single spreadsheet.

Reception · first application
The eleven-plus juggler

Grammar registration closes in June, the council form in October. Two tracks sit on one timeline, so the next step is always obvious.

Year 7 · two children
The careful comparer

Every visit lands in the same place — notes, questions and deadlines together — so schools stay easy to compare weeks later.

Reception · new to the borough

“I’m a parent in the middle of this myself — the open days, the forms, the deadlines nobody tells you about. openday is the planner I went looking for and couldn’t find.”

Ali · Founder
What we do / What we don’t do
YES

What openday does

  • Index every school within reach of your postcode
  • Hold open days, forms and notes in one place
  • Track deadlines through to offer day
  • Prompt good questions before each visit
  • Keep your notes private to your household
NO

What it doesn’t do

  • Predict your child's likelihood of getting in
  • Rank schools as 'safe' or 'aspirational'
  • Replace your judgement after visiting
  • Sell, share or analyse your private notes
  • Pretend to know more than the council does
Begin

Type your postcode.
Open the year.

Free for parents. Three minutes to your first shortlist. No card, no rankings, no admissions advice.

Find schools near me Read the FAQ