Frequently asked questions
Answers to the commonly asked questions about Beyond the Prospectus
What is Beyond the Prospectus?
Beyond the Prospectus is an independent project helping families understand schools beyond their marketing. We combine factual information with the experiences of current and former parents, pupils and staff to build balanced, evidence-informed school profiles
What is your aim?
We hope to give clearer, broader information about independent secondary schools. The purpose is to help parents and pupils understand schools better before they make a huge financial and emotional commitment. By gathering many experiences, we can identify the common themes that shape everyday school life rather than relying on isolated opinions or one-off events.
Why should I trust Beyond the Prospectus?
Our school profiles are built from a broad range of voices, not a single inspection, review or visit. Combined with over 25 years of educational experience, our aim is to provide families with balanced, thoughtful and trustworthy guidance.​ Integrity is very important to us.
Can schools influence?
No. Beyond the Prospectus is completely independent. We don't receive commission or referral fees, and schools have no influence over the information we publish.​ If schools wish to learn from our research to benefit their pupils, we welcome this conversation.
How do you use my survey responses?
Your responses remain anonymous. We combine them with many others to identify common themes rather than individual experiences. Any information we publish is anonymised and cannot be traced back to you.
Which schools do you cover?
Our research is currently focused on independent secondary schools across Surrey and the London boroughs of Kingston and Richmond. We hope to expand into prep, state and grammar schools as the project grows.
​How do you ensure fairness?
We don't publish individual comments or sensational stories. Instead, we look for consistent themes across many responses and combine these with carefully researched factual information. Our aim is to create balanced, evidence-informed profiles that help families understand a school's culture, not to judge or criticise individual schools.
How often do you update the website?
Once the research is collated, we will do this regularly. As new factual information is released and more research is gathered, school profiles will continue to develop, making them richer and more representative over time.​ Because of the ever evolving nature of data, we will let you know the date we collected our information.
How do schools feel about what you are doing?
We hope schools will see Beyond the Prospectus as a positive contribution. Our aim isn't to judge or rank schools, but to provide balanced insight that helps families make informed choices. If schools would like to access our findings, we welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively for the benefit of future pupils.