The SchoolGuru love-in

We get lots of lovely comments about SchoolGuru and here are a few edited highlights... We love you too! xx

The Cabinet Office - 'Brilliant idea.' (SchoolGuru was a winner of the Government's 'Show us a better way' data innovation competition).

Ms C - 'You've been so helpful! Really appreciate this service as a newcomer to Herts!'

Department for Communities and Local Government website - 'SchoolGuru helps parents find the best schools and enables them to see whether their child is eligible using official admission and outcome data from individual schools and the County Council.'

Mr M - 'Loving the website! Glad we signed up!'

Mrs A - 'We've used your site a lot over the years and I think you provide such an invaluable service and great advice. Thank you!'

Ms K - 'Fab advice, THANK YOU!! I'm amazed we ended up with what would have been our first choice school had we moved into the area on time! I am singing your praises to everyone I meet with a 3+ year old!!!'

One Happy Mum - 'I can't quite believe it but we managed to get our first choice school. I just wanted to say thank you for your support. I really thought we might be home schooling, so I'm very relieved indeed!!'

Ms W - 'The website has been enormously helpful so far - so glad I discovered it! Have recommended it to several other mums who are also starting the process now.'

Ms A - 'Your website is fantastic, it has been an absolute godsend to us, particularly as we are new to the area.'

Ms McB - 'I appreciate your advice and feel that you are saying what I am thinking!!!! Super helpful!'

Ms L - 'We've just got our first choice primary school and we are thrilled. Thank you so much for all your support, you really helped me navigate the whole process and made me feel confident about my choices.'

Mr & Mrs A - 'Really appreciate the reply and general oasis of bonhomme that your website provides!'

Ms S - 'Thank you. You really are a guru!'

Ms V - 'I like you, you're funny. Great site, thanks for the humour. I am sure it has saved many mummies from going a little bit mental!'

Ms T - 'WOW you're good!!! Thank you so much for all that information, it's just what I needed and done so quickly.'

Ms H - 'Thank you so much for your prompt and detailed answer! Truly appreciate it; I have been having migraines for weeks over this. I am truly grateful you have set up this service. I am finding even parents do not want to talk about what they are planning to do! It's a minefield!'

Ms A - 'Thank you so much for such a very detailed and helpful response… I really didn't expect that. You've really helped my understanding and decision making process. I think the website is fantastic and I would definitely recommend it.'

Ms E - 'Cannot thank you enough but will be singing the praises of the website (though most friends are in London and are v jealous when I tell them about the site...).'

Lovely Mr & Mrs - 'Thank you for all the information. The detail you provided and the time you took to respond to our many questions was not only very much appreciated but was also invaluable.'

Very nice dad - 'I just wanted to say thank you for producing such a fantastic website! It truly is brilliant!! We followed all your great tips and advice and have just got our son into a really good village primary school. Although the alternative would not have been the end of the world, we are so grateful for your priceless help!'

Ms Z - 'Well done with the site, it's very informative and oh so witty!! :) '

Ms DF - 'You have been so helpful, your site is excellent and it has provided a lot of information that I could not find anywhere else.'

Ms J - 'Many thanks for your help. I really appreciate feeling like we have a knowledgeable friend on our side!'

Lovely mum - 'I've told all my friends about your site and how helpful you are, I wouldn't have had a clue without you!'

No 1 Mummy - 'I've just had an email offering my daughter a place! I am so happy and enjoying a glass of fizz! I will toast SchoolGuru for sure, thanks again so much!'

Mr B - 'We won our appeal! A massive, massive thank you for all your wisdom. I'm pretty sure that your advice helped us to set our son's case into an overarching context, making it perhaps more coherent than it might otherwise have been'.

Liz - 'Thank you so much for your help. I really wasn't expecting this level of service - a lovely surprise :-)!'

Mr J - 'Way too cheap!!'

Sez, St Albans - 'OMG we've just got STAGS! Thank you so much! I'll say anything you want for your testimonials page!'

Mrs S - 'Your advice is pure gold. And you seem to sit in that difficult space between pragmatism and empathy. Thank you. x'

Mrs C - 'Thanks for a great site. We are in St Albans, and looking into secondary schools at the moment. We may need to move – and the site is proving extremely useful for forward planning!'

Mrs H - 'Congrats on the website – I think it's invaluable and I have linked it to my friends in St Albans who will be going through the nightmare process of school applications later this year.'

Claire Healy, Raring2go editor for St Albans and Harpenden - 'I have been playing on your site - it looks fantastic!! I just wish I'd known about it two years ago but I know loads of other people who will find it really useful.'

Tammy, mum of two - 'I followed the advice on this very easy-to-use site and got my kids into a great school. They would not have got into the 'local' school, so it saved me lots of time and effort. The data is much more accessible than anything available from our local authority and should be available to all parents nationwide.'

Chiltern Radio news - 'A St Albans mum has set up a website to help parents who’re going through the process of choosing their children’s schools… and it’s proving popular.'

Jane - 'Applying for schools is a minefield! Your site is really good – it's helping me to avoid making a mistake and putting down unrealistic choices.'

Chloe - 'There is so much hearsay among parents - your website really cuts through that.'

Mumsnet - 'I have used this and it is absolutely brilliant. Well done!!'

Katie - 'Thanks a million, your website is excellent!'

Mrs B, St Albans - 'SchoolGuru is the essential guide for any parent looking for a good school for their children. As a parent of twins getting my children into the right school has been a challenge. But SchoolGuru gave me the facts I needed to make an informed choice.'

Louise M - 'Fab website!'

Mitch Pritch - 'A wonderful idea. This site is so easy to use and enabled me to select the perfect school for my son. Goodness knows where he would have ended up if I had gone with my initial choices. This service really should be available for parents everywhere.'

Dr S, Milton Keynes - 'I used SchoolGuru to find a great little primary school out of our area. When I hear terrible tales of our local school, I am very grateful for the help you gave us, as it got my daughter into her fabulous school. I think it is a fantastic idea and I'll use it again for siblings and secondary schools.'

Jane S - 'We used SchoolGuru when we realised we didn't have a clue how to approach the whole primary school application process. The friendly help, support and advice we received was invaluable, at what can be such a stressful time.'

Mumsnet - 'I found your Admissions Calculator really helpful when I was recently applying for primary schools for my four year old son. I was going to put Aboyne, either Abbey or St Michael's, then Garden Fields, thinking that GF was a "safe" third choice. But when I looked at your site I realised I didn't have a chance with Garden Fields. I need to live at least 150m nearer, so I put Bernards Heath as my 3rd, which is what I got. I put Aboyne 1st and Abbey 2nd. Other people in our area who didn't put Bernards Heath got allocated Margaret Wix, which I would have been seriously unhappy with! So I think your site has saved me from that! Thanks again for such a useful site. I didn't get what I wanted, but I didn't get a nightmare either.'

Anxious Year 5 Mum -'Your website is a revelation to a parent like me.'

School admissions:
Primary schools Admission Calculator
Secondary schools Admission Calculator
Herts school appeals:
Appeals advice
School appeals guides