diff --git a/backend/database.py b/backend/database.py
index 75b86a5..57508e1 100644
--- a/backend/database.py
+++ b/backend/database.py
@@ -128,17 +128,17 @@ def check_and_migrate_if_needed():
         print("Running full migration...")
 
     try:
+        # Set schema version BEFORE migration so a crash mid-migration
+        # doesn't cause an infinite re-migration loop on every restart.
+        init_db()
+        set_db_schema_version(SCHEMA_VERSION)
+
         success = run_full_migration(geocode=False)
 
         if success:
-            # Ensure schema_version table exists before writing
-            init_db()
-            set_db_schema_version(SCHEMA_VERSION)
-            print(f"Migration complete. Schema version set to {SCHEMA_VERSION}")
+            print(f"Migration complete. Schema version {SCHEMA_VERSION}.")
         else:
             print("Warning: Migration completed but no data was imported.")
-            init_db()
-            set_db_schema_version(SCHEMA_VERSION)
 
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"FATAL: Migration failed: {e}")
diff --git a/backend/migration.py b/backend/migration.py
index b3f58d2..630155c 100644
--- a/backend/migration.py
+++ b/backend/migration.py
@@ -431,7 +431,8 @@ def run_full_migration(geocode: bool = False) -> bool:
 
     # Only drop the core KS2 tables — leave supplementary tables (ofsted, census,
     # finance, etc.) intact so a reimport doesn't wipe integrator-populated data.
-    ks2_tables = ["school_results", "schools", "schema_version"]
+    # schema_version is NOT dropped: it persists so restarts don't re-trigger migration.
+    ks2_tables = ["school_results", "schools"]
     print(f"Dropping core tables: {ks2_tables} ...")
     inspector = __import__("sqlalchemy").inspect(engine)
     existing = set(inspector.get_table_names())