UK Ofsted Inspections Scraper

Extract structured provider and inspection report data from the public Ofsted inspection reports website.

Use this actor to search schools, nurseries, childcare providers, children’s homes, independent learning providers, and other Ofsted-regulated providers, then export clean records with URNs, ratings, addresses, local authorities, regions, and PDF report links.

What does UK Ofsted Inspections Scraper do?

UK Ofsted Inspections Scraper turns Ofsted search results into a dataset you can filter, join, and monitor.

It searches reports.ofsted.gov.uk, opens provider detail pages, and saves structured fields that are useful for education research and compliance workflows.

It does not attempt heavy PDF text extraction in the default workflow.

Instead, it captures the official PDF report URLs so you can download or process them in a later step.

Who is it for?

• 🎓 Education market researchers building school and nursery datasets.
• 📈 Lead generation teams targeting providers by region, category, rating, or local authority.
• 🏠 Real-estate and location intelligence teams enriching areas with school-quality signals.
• ✅ Compliance teams monitoring inspection outcomes and report publication dates.
• 🧑‍💻 Data engineers who need repeatable Ofsted exports through the Apify API.

Why use this actor?

Ofsted pages are public, but manual searching is slow.

This actor gives you repeatable exports without copy-pasting results page by page.

It is HTTP-first and lightweight, so normal runs are fast and inexpensive.

Data sources

The actor uses the official public Ofsted reports site:

• https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/search
• https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/...
• linked report files hosted under https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/

What data can I extract?

The default dataset includes provider-level search and detail fields.

Field	Description
providerName	Ofsted provider name
urn	Unique reference number
providerUrl	Public Ofsted provider page
category	Search-result category
address	Provider address when published
postcode	Parsed UK postcode
rating	Search-result rating or no-report status
latestReportDate	Latest report publication date shown in search
inspectionOutcome	Current detail-page outcome when available
inspectionOutcomeDate	Date of current inspection outcome
providerType	Provider type from details
localAuthority	Local authority
region	Region
responsibleBody	Trust or responsible body link text when shown
ageRange	School age range when shown
gender	Gender field when shown
numberOfPupils	Number of pupils when shown
reports	Array of report PDF links and dates
latestReportUrl	First/latest report PDF URL
sourceSearchUrl	Search page that produced the record
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp

How much does it cost to scrape Ofsted inspection reports?

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing.

A small start event is charged once per run.

A provider item event is charged for each provider saved to the dataset.

The final platform pricing is visible on the Apify Store page and may include tier discounts for higher-volume users.

How to use it

1. Enter one or more search queries such as London, Manchester schools, or a provider name.
2. Optionally add direct Ofsted search URLs or provider URLs.
3. Set maxItems to control dataset size.
4. Keep includeDetails enabled for report links and local authority fields.
5. Run the actor.
6. Export results as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or through the API.

Input options

queries

Free-text search terms submitted to Ofsted search.

Examples:

• London
• Birmingham nursery
• 134798
• independent learning provider

startUrls

Direct Ofsted URLs.

Use this when you already have a filtered search URL from Ofsted or a known provider page.

maxItems

Maximum number of providers saved across all searches.

maxPagesPerSearch

Maximum number of Ofsted search pages to follow for each query or search URL.

Ofsted currently returns about 10 providers per search page.

includeDetails

When enabled, the actor opens each provider detail page.

This adds local authority, region, current inspection outcome, and PDF report links.

openOnly

When enabled, generated query URLs request open/current providers.

If you provide your own startUrls, your URL filters are respected.

requestDelayMs

Polite delay between HTTP requests.

Increase this if you are running very broad exports.

Example input

{
  "queries": ["London", "Manchester schools"],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 10,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "openOnly": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 250
}

Example output

{
  "providerName": "London Academy",
  "urn": "134798",
  "providerUrl": "https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/28/134798",
  "category": "Other schools",
  "address": "Spur Road, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 8DE",
  "postcode": "HA8 8DE",
  "rating": "Good",
  "latestReportDate": "24 November 2023",
  "inspectionOutcome": "Good",
  "inspectionOutcomeDate": "3 July 2023",
  "providerType": "Academy",
  "localAuthority": "Barnet",
  "region": "London",
  "responsibleBody": "AIM ACADEMIES TRUST",
  "ageRange": "4 - 19",
  "gender": "Mixed",
  "numberOfPupils": 1736,
  "latestReportUrl": "https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50233820"
}

Tips for better results

• Use towns, local authorities, provider names, or URNs for targeted runs.
• Use a direct Ofsted search URL if you need specific filters.
• Start with maxItems around 100 to validate your query.
• Keep detail fetching enabled when you need report PDF links.
• Disable detail fetching only for fast high-level search exports.

Integrations

You can connect this actor to:

• Google Sheets for education lead lists.
• Airtable for CRM enrichment.
• Webhooks for compliance monitoring.
• Cloud storage for periodic Ofsted snapshots.
• PDF parsers for deeper report text extraction using latestReportUrl.

API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper').call({
  queries: ['London'],
  maxItems: 100,
  includeDetails: true
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('MY-APIFY-TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper').call(run_input={
    'queries': ['London'],
    'maxItems': 100,
    'includeDetails': True,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper/runs?token=MY-APIFY-TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"queries":["London"],"maxItems":100,"includeDetails":true}'

MCP usage

Use the Apify MCP server with this actor in Claude Desktop or Claude Code.

MCP URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper

Add it in Claude Code:

$claude mcp add apify-ofsted --transport http "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper"

Claude Desktop JSON configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-ofsted": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/uk-ofsted-inspections-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Run the UK Ofsted Inspections Scraper for Birmingham nurseries and summarize providers rated Inadequate."
• "Find Ofsted providers in London and export provider names, URNs, ratings, and report URLs."
• "Monitor this Ofsted query weekly and tell me when new report dates appear."

Common workflows

Education lead generation

Search a city or local authority, export providers, and filter by provider category or rating.

Compliance monitoring

Run saved queries periodically and compare latestReportDate or inspectionOutcome values over time.

Location enrichment

Join postcode, region, and rating fields into property, school-catchment, or local-area datasets.

Report collection

Use latestReportUrl and reports to build a queue of official Ofsted PDF files for downstream processing.

Limitations

Some providers do not publish addresses.

Some providers have no report yet.

Ofsted page layouts may vary by provider category.

PDF body text extraction is intentionally outside the default MVP.

Troubleshooting

Why did I get fewer results than expected?

Increase maxPagesPerSearch or use broader queries.

If a direct Ofsted URL has filters, those filters may narrow the result set.

Why are some detail fields blank?

Ofsted does not show every field for every provider type.

For example, pupil counts are usually school-specific and may not exist for childcare providers.

Why do some providers say "No report yet"?

Ofsted search results include providers that are registered but do not yet have a published inspection report.

Legality

This actor extracts public information from the official Ofsted reports website.

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape Ofsted inspection reports?

This actor extracts public information from the official Ofsted reports website.

You are responsible for using the data lawfully, respecting Ofsted terms, and handling personal or sensitive information appropriately.

Do not overload the service.

Use reasonable limits and delays.

Related scrapers

Related automation-lab actors may help with adjacent public-sector and education workflows:

• https://apify.com/automation-lab/uk-contracts-finder-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/uk-find-a-tender-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/company-domain-finder
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/bulk-url-status-checker

Support

If a run fails or a field disappears, open an Apify issue with the run ID, input, and example provider URL.

We will inspect the site change and update the actor when needed.

Changelog

Initial version extracts Ofsted search results, provider detail metadata, inspection outcomes, and report PDF links.