Victory Against the Tech Giant

Justin Cowley, Deputy Headteacher at Mendell Primary School, has successfully led a campaign to remove outdated Google school ratings.

In February 2025, Justin sent a letter to Google, signed by 60 senior leaders representing around 50 schools, demanding the removal of old reviews. Many of these reviews were more than six years old and did not reflect recent Ofsted ratings or improvements schools had made.

Although Google announced in 2019 that it would stop allowing reviews for schools, deeming them "critical services," the policy had not been enforced consistently, leaving some schools open to ongoing ratings.

Following Justin’s campaign, Google has now confirmed that it will fully enforce a ban on school reviews and remove all existing ratings. These changes will take effect from February 18th 2025.

Justin Cowley, Deputy Headteacher at Mendell Primary School said: "The whole purpose of this was to help parents make informed choices about their child’s education – and few decisions are as important as that."

A huge congratulations to Justin on this fantastic achievement!