How we stay free

Ideal Home is a free School Finder: enter an address, see nearby schools, and check Local Enrolment Area (catchment) status where official data exists. Families should never have to pay to see a Yes / No / No data / N/A answer that comes from public government datasets.

What is always free

• Address search, nearby schools, and Local Enrolment Area matching
• Shortlist compare using public ACARA profile fields (no composite “best school” score)
• Guides, moving checklist, feedback, and this explainer

What costs us money (not a data fee)

• Hosting the site so it stays online
• Address geocoding so a typed street becomes a map point
• Optional map and address autocomplete (Google). Those extras need login so we can cap paid API use — the Local Enrolment Area answer still works without them.

Optional donations are cost recovery for those running costs. They do not buy access to catchment polygons or ACARA rows, and they never unlock a “secret” enrolment answer.

What we will not do

• Charge for open government school or catchment data
• Put ads or affiliate links on the Local Enrolment Area result
• Sell featured-school rankings or a paywalled finder
• Guarantee enrolment — always confirm with the school and the relevant education department

If we ever offer a paid extra, it would be a service (for example a print-ready moving pack, or matching-as-a-service for agents) sitting beside the free core — never instead of it. Nothing like that is for sale today.

Agencies and other businesses

Buyer’s agents, conveyancers, PropTech, and tutoring institutes: the family School Finder stays free. We do not sell catchment files. There is no checkout today — nothing is for sale. If a paid extra ever exists, it would be matching-as-a-service beside this free core, never a data paywall, ads, affiliates, or featured-school ranking. More in the FAQ.