What Is a Data Health Check for Schools — And Does Your School Need One?

The Problem With School Data

Most schools are not short of data. They have MIS systems, assessment trackers, attendance modules, SEND registers, and governor dashboards — often pulling in different directions, updated at different times, owned by different people.

The problem is not having data. The problem is trusting it, understanding it, and using it to make decisions.

A Data Health Check is a structured independent review that answers three questions:

1. Is your data accurate and consistent? 2. Does it tell a coherent story about your school? 3. Are you making good decisions based on it?

What a Data Health Check Covers

A typical engagement looks at:

Data accuracy and consistency Are figures consistent across systems? Does your attendance data match your MIS? Are pupil group flags applied correctly?

Pupil group analysis Disadvantaged, SEND, EAL, high prior attainers — are gaps identified, understood, and tracked over time?

Attendance and exclusions Persistent absence rates, exclusion patterns, and whether these align with your stated priorities.

Assessment and progress Are internal assessments calibrated? Do they predict outcomes accurately? Are you tracking the right cohorts?

Ofsted readiness Can leadership explain the data story clearly? Are there gaps or inconsistencies an inspector would probe?

What You Get

At the end of a Data Health Check you receive:

• A written report (typically 8–15 pages) covering findings and priorities
• A data accuracy scorecard
• A set of recommended actions, prioritised by urgency
• A briefing session with your leadership team

The process takes approximately two weeks from data access to report delivery.

When Does It Make Sense?

A Data Health Check is particularly valuable when:

• An Ofsted inspection is likely in the next 6–12 months
• You've recently changed MIS systems or senior leadership
• There are inconsistencies between your internal picture and published national data
• Your governors are asking questions your team can't confidently answer
• You're joining or forming a MAT and want to establish a data baseline

The Cost

A Data Health Check is a one-off engagement priced at £2,500. For most schools, that's less than a day of supply cover. The output typically informs decisions worth multiples of that investment.

Book a Data Health Check →