Start with the subject
Student allocation bands are not official school ratings
Parents often use “Band 1 school” as market shorthand, but the formal EDB mechanism assigns allocation bands to students. The two concepts are not the same data.
Four-step school research path
Define the band before choosing schools
Official student bands, school shorthand and model estimates answer different questions. Use them in this order.
Understand student allocation bands
Territory and Net Bands apply to students. Start with the EDB mechanism and current SSPA status.
Open the SSPA hub →Build a shortlist from official facts
Narrow 441 schools by district, finance type, gender, fees, classes and language policy.
Open school finder →Compare shortlisted schools
Compare the same official fields, source years and separate evidence layers for up to four schools.
Open four-school comparison →Use rough estimates last
Check the published weights, missing-value rules and zero-weight factors; model groups are not EDB banding.
View estimate method →Three different concepts
Check what the label refers to
Their subjects, sources and uses differ; they cannot be renamed or treated as one data field.
Student allocation band
Applies to an individual student; Central Allocation uses Territory and Net Bands, which are not retained after the procedure.
School-band label
Applies to a school; source, year and method vary, and it is not a permanent school fact published by EDB.
Rough academic-group estimate
Groups 1A to 3 represent only this release's 50/35/15 model order, not intake results, admission probability or child fit.
How official allocation bands work
The EDB 2024/2026 Notes for Parents mechanism reference explains that students are ordered by scaled marks and divided into three equal groups. Part A uses Territory Bands; Part B uses Net Bands within the same school net. This mechanism reference does not provide a 2027 school-band list or exact current-cycle dates.
The allocation band of individual students will not be retained after the allocation procedure is completed.
Why this cannot produce a school band
- A student's band differs between territory-wide and net-based ordering.
- Part B supply, demand and places from other districts can change annually.
- EDB does not publish student allocation bands as permanent labels for individual schools.
S1Tracker's non-official academic-group estimate
S1Tracker primarily uses official-profile academic programmes and teaching resources, plus a 15-point recent public-attention proxy, to form five rough groups: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B and 3. It does not copy Schooland or BigExam school-level bands and discloses the AI role, source year, 100-point weights, subject vocabulary and school components. Student support, continuity, feeder and through-train factors all score zero. Public attention is not positive sentiment, academic outcomes or school quality; the estimate remains neither EDB school banding nor a complete public-exam-results ranking.
Third-party source
External Schooland banding reference
Schooland's published intake-group label is a non-official estimate. Its source page also states that schools do not have official bands and that intake patterns may change each year. S1Tracker can link to it for further research, but does not merge it into EDB or CHSC fields.
Schooland school directory
Open the source site's current non-official banding reference.
Open external directory ↗Schooland banding explainer
Read how the source site describes its estimates and limitations.
Open source explanation ↗Source-site terms
S1Tracker reviewed the reuse boundary on 2026-07-15.
View terms ↗Method and correlation review
BigExam banding-method reference
BigExam says its estimate considers school-published DSE results and post-secondary outcomes, while incomplete disclosures may still require estimation. Schooland school pages also directly link to and display a BigExam band reference, so the two cannot be averaged as independent rating sources.
BigExam school directory
Open the third-party directory; school values are not imported.
Open external directory ↗BigExam banding method
Read its indicators, data gaps and estimation limits.
Open source explanation ↗BigExam terms
School-level data remain external-link only.
View terms ↗Frequently asked questions
Does EDB publish a Band 1, Band 2 and Band 3 school list?
No. EDB documents describe Territory and Net allocation bands for students in the allocation process, not permanent school ratings.
Is a student's allocation band retained permanently?
No. EDB's Notes for Parents state that an individual student's allocation band is not retained after the allocation procedure.
Should non-official school banding be ignored completely?
It may reflect market perception or historical choice discussions, but it is not official fact. Any use requires a methodology, source year, coverage and limitations separate from official school data.
Official method source
EDB Notes for Parents on Central Allocation 2024/2026
2024/2026 mechanism reference; its dates do not carry forward
Open official source ↗