Privacy policy
Last updated: 29 September 2026.
Who we are
Compare My School is owned and operated by Flouri App Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17181240). Registered office: 5 Yewdale, 196 Harborne Park Road, Birmingham, B17 0BP. Flouri App Limited is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. You can contact us at [email protected].
What information we collect about you
You don't need an account, and we never ask for your name or contact details to use the site. We and the services we use collect the following automatically:
- Server and security logs kept by our hosting provider, Cloudflare: your IP address, the page requested, the date and time, the referring page and your browser's user agent. We use these only to keep the site secure and working.
- Cookieless visit counts from Cloudflare Web Analytics, which show aggregate page views and do not identify you or use cookies.
- Google Analytics 4, only if you consent. This tells us which pages are used and how people find the site, using cookies and an identifier for your browser. It is loaded through Cloudflare Zaraz and does not run until you allow it.
- Advertising, managed by our ad partner Mediavine and the advertising partners listed in our consent banner. In the UK and EU, cookies and similar technologies are used for advertising only in line with the choices you make in that banner. See "Advertising" below.
- Grow by Mediavine, a Mediavine feature on our pages that can let you save or bookmark content. If you choose to use it, Grow processes your information under Mediavine's own privacy policy.
- Postcode lookups when you use "schools near me". The postcode you enter is sent to the free Postcodes.io service to convert it into a location. We do not store it.
Cookies and your choices
When you first visit from the UK or EU, a consent banner (provided by Mediavine, using consentmanager.net and the IAB Transparency & Consent Framework) asks which cookies and partners you allow. That one banner controls both advertising and Google Analytics. You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer of every page.
- Strictly necessary (always on): Cloudflare security cookies such as
__cf_bmandcf_clearance, which help block bots and abuse, and the cookies that store your consent choices (for example__cmpconsent…,__cmpccand Zaraz'scf_consent). These are exempt from consent under PECR. - Analytics (only with consent): Google Analytics cookies such as
_gaand_ga_*. - Advertising (only with consent, or where a partner relies on legitimate interests and you have not objected in the banner): cookies and similar technologies set by Mediavine and its partners to show, limit and measure ads.
Advertising
Compare My School is free to use and funded by advertising. Mediavine manages the ads on our pages and works with third-party advertising partners. The full list of partners, and what each does, is in the consent banner under "Settings". Advertisers have no influence over the school data, scores or rankings we publish.
Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)
The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.
First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The "help" feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.
Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.
The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:
- IP Address
- Operating System type
- Operating System version
- Device Type
- Language of the website
- Web browser type
- Email (in hashed form)
Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.
If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.
For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.
Legal basis
We rely on our legitimate interest in running a secure, working website for server logs, security cookies and cookieless visit counts. We rely on your consent for Google Analytics and for advertising cookies. Some advertising partners may rely on their legitimate interests for certain purposes; you can object to this in the consent banner. You can withdraw consent at any time through Cookie settings, which won't affect processing that already happened.
Where your data goes
Cloudflare, Google, Mediavine and some advertising partners may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where they do, they rely on safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct or request deletion of personal data we hold about you, to object to or restrict processing, and to withdraw consent. Because we don't hold accounts or contact details, most of the information described above is held by the services named, not by us; you can manage cookie-based processing through Cookie settings. To make a request, email [email protected] with the subject "Data request". You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Children
The site is intended for parents, carers and others researching schools. It is not aimed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
Data about schools
The school data on this site is published by the Department for Education and Ofsted under the Open Government Licence v3.0. It relates to schools and whole year groups, not to individual pupils. If you are a school and believe something is incorrect, please email us and we will investigate.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy, for example when we add a feature or change a service we use. The "Last updated" date at the top will change when we do.