fix(places): phase links must stay in their own namespace

Every place page built its phase links as /schools/[slug]/[phase], the
shape that belongs to towns alone.

On an authority page that pointed into the town namespace. For 87 of the
151 authorities the target does not exist and the link 404s; for the
other 64 it resolves to the town of the same name — a different set of
schools, which is precisely the near-duplicate the two namespaces were
introduced to prevent. On an outcode page it 404s outright.

Two causes behind it, both a rule written twice and inherited by only
one of the places that needed it.

The authority phase route was in the spec and dropped by the plan, which
built the three bare routes and no fourth. The sitemap is generated from
the place registry, which was right about them all along, so 302
authority phase URLs have been submitted to Google and every one 404s.
Adding the route makes the sitemap true and serves a real query —
admissions are authority-run, so "primary schools in Kent" is how a
parent searches before they have settled on a town.

The outcode variants were the opposite: the registry computed phases for
outcodes although the spec gives them no route, and the sitemap knew to
skip them while the API did not. The registry now decides alone, and the
sitemap's duplicate of that rule is gone.

Also: an authority under the five-school threshold has no page, so the
API sends a null slug for it and the page names it without linking.
Two English authorities are in that position. It was unreachable in
today's data — verified across the EC and TR outcodes — but the thin
place redirect would have sent a reader to a 404 the year it isn't.

The e2e journey now walks every /schools link a page of each family
emits and requires a 200, which is the check that was missing.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015mWQnpye9F299NVRCCSRvj

backend/app.py

@@ -222,10 +222,10 @@ def _place_sitemap_rows(kinds: tuple[str, ...]) -> list[str]:
         if p.kind not in kinds:
             continue
         rows.append(_url_element(BASE_URL + _place_url(p)))
-        # Outcodes carry no phase variants: nobody searches "primary schools
+        # Which phases a place publishes is the registry's decision alone —
-        # in SW11", so the routes do not exist to submit.
+        # outcodes report none, because the spec gives them no phase route.
-        if p.kind == "outcode":
+        # Repeating that rule here was how the page and the sitemap came to
-            continue
+        # disagree about which URLs exist.
         for phase in ("primary", "secondary"):
             if p.publishes_phase(phase):
                 rows.append(_url_element(f"{BASE_URL}{_place_url(p)}/{phase}"))
@@ -1200,7 +1200,8 @@ async def get_place(request: Request, kind: str, slug: str,
     if kind not in VALID_PLACE_KINDS:
         raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="No such place")
 
-    place = get_place_registry().get(f"{kind}:{slug}")
+    registry = get_place_registry()
+    place = registry.get(f"{kind}:{slug}")
     if place is None:
         raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="No such place")
 
@@ -1212,10 +1213,15 @@ async def get_place(request: Request, kind: str, slug: str,
         if wanted and "phase" in rows.columns:
             rows = rows[rows["phase"].fillna("").str.lower().isin(wanted)]
 
-    # The metric the page ranks on, which is also the one it averages.
+    # The metric the page shows, and averages.
     metric = "attainment_8_score" if phase == "secondary" else "rwm_expected_pct"
-    if metric in rows.columns:
+
-        rows = rows.sort_values(metric, ascending=False, na_position="last")
+    # Alphabetical, not by score. A place page is read by someone looking for
+    # a school they can name, and scanning for it is what the order should
+    # serve. /rankings is where the league-table ordering lives, and it keeps
+    # sorting by metric.
+    if "school_name" in rows.columns:
+        rows = rows.sort_values("school_name", key=lambda c: c.str.lower())
 
     averages = {
         m: (None if m not in rows.columns or rows[m].dropna().empty
@@ -1235,8 +1241,17 @@ async def get_place(request: Request, kind: str, slug: str,
                   # Every authority the place meaningfully sits in. SW19 is
                   # mostly Merton but partly Wandsworth; naming one asserts
                   # something false.
+                  #
+                  # The slug is null where that authority has no page of its
+                  # own: City of London and the Isles of Scilly hold fewer
+                  # schools than the threshold. Naming them is still right;
+                  # linking them would be a 404.
                   "authorities": [
-                      {"name": name, "slug": _slugify(name), "count": n}
+                      {"name": name,
+                       "slug": (_slugify(name)
+                                if f"authority:{_slugify(name)}" in registry
+                                else None),
+                       "count": n}
                       for name, n in place.authorities
                   ],
                   # Only phases that clear the threshold, so the page links

backend/places.py

@@ -59,18 +59,51 @@ def _publishable_urns(df) -> set[int]:
     return set(df.loc[df[cols].notna().any(axis=1), "urn"].astype(int))
 
 
+# The measure a phase page is built around. A page with no results in this
+# column has nothing a list of school names does not already give.
+_PHASE_METRIC = {
+    "primary": "rwm_expected_pct",
+    "secondary": "attainment_8_score",
+}
+
+
 def _phase_urns(group, publishable: set[int]) -> dict[str, tuple[int, ...]]:
-    """URNs per phase. All-through schools count toward both, matching the
+    """URNs per phase, counting only schools with a result for that phase.
-    PHASE_GROUPS mapping the search filters already use."""
+
+    Not merely "publishable". A school with an Ofsted grade and no results is
+    worth a page of its own and belongs in the place list, but it cannot
+    populate a phase page's results column — and the threshold is there to ask
+    whether that column will have anything in it.
+
+    Counting publishable schools instead let /schools/kent/primary publish
+    with none of its five rows carrying a result, and left 44 phase pages
+    majority-blank. It is the same rule as "no page without a local average",
+    which was never extended per phase.
+
+    All-through schools count toward both phases, matching the PHASE_GROUPS
+    mapping the search filters already use.
+    """
     from backend.app import PHASE_GROUPS
 
     if "phase" not in group.columns:
         return {}
     lowered = group["phase"].fillna("").str.lower()
+
     out: dict[str, tuple[int, ...]] = {}
     for phase in ("primary", "secondary"):
         wanted = PHASE_GROUPS.get(phase, set())
         subset = group[lowered.isin(wanted)]
+
+        # The page lists every school of the phase; the threshold counts only
+        # those carrying a result, so a mostly-empty table never publishes.
+        metric = _PHASE_METRIC[phase]
+        with_result = (
+            {int(u) for u in subset.loc[subset[metric].notna(), "urn"]}
+            if metric in subset.columns else set()
+        )
+        if len(with_result & publishable) < MIN_SCHOOLS:
+            continue
+
         urns = tuple(sorted({int(u) for u in subset["urn"]} & publishable))
         if urns:
             out[phase] = urns
@@ -191,7 +224,14 @@ def _outcode(postcode) -> str | None:
 def _outcode_places(df, publishable: set[int]) -> dict[str, Place]:
     """One Place per postcode district clearing the threshold.
 
-    These carry no phase variants: nobody searches "primary schools in SW11".
+    These carry no phase variants: nobody searches "primary schools in SW11",
+    so the spec gives them no /primary or /secondary route. `phase_urns` is
+    left empty rather than computed and then filtered downstream — the
+    registry is the one place that decides which phases a place publishes,
+    and the page links whatever it reports.
+
+    Computing them here put a link to a route that does not exist on every one
+    of the 1,720 outcode pages.
     """
     if "postcode" not in df.columns:
         return {}
@@ -206,8 +246,7 @@ def _outcode_places(df, publishable: set[int]) -> dict[str, Place]:
         authorities = _authorities(group)
         place = Place(kind="outcode", slug=str(oc).lower(), name=str(oc),
                       urns=urns, parent_authority=_parent_authority(authorities),
-                      authorities=authorities,
+                      authorities=authorities)
-                      phase_urns=_phase_urns(group, publishable))
         out[place.key] = place
     return out
 

backend/tests/test_places.py

@@ -343,3 +343,78 @@ def test_the_merged_place_takes_its_most_common_spelling():
             + _town(5, "NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME", "Staffordshire", start=400000))
     reg = build_place_registry(_df(rows))
     assert reg["town:newcastle-under-lyme"].name == "Newcastle-under-Lyme"
+
+
+def test_a_phase_page_needs_results_not_merely_publishable_schools():
+    """/schools/kent/primary published with none of its five rows scored.
+
+    The threshold counted schools that were publishable — a result OR an
+    Ofsted grade — while the page exists for its results column. Forty-four
+    phase pages were majority-blank; one had no results at all.
+    """
+    rows = _town(MIN_SCHOOLS, "Kent", "Kent")
+    for r in rows:
+        r["rwm_expected_pct"] = np.nan     # Ofsted only, no results
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(rows))
+
+    assert "town:kent" in reg               # the place still publishes
+    assert not reg["town:kent"].publishes_phase("primary")
+
+
+def test_a_phase_page_publishes_once_enough_schools_carry_a_result():
+    rows = _town(MIN_SCHOOLS, "Beccles", "Suffolk")
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(rows))
+    assert reg["town:beccles"].publishes_phase("primary")
+
+
+def test_a_publishing_phase_page_still_lists_its_unscored_schools():
+    """The threshold gates whether the page exists; it does not filter rows.
+
+    A parent looking up a school by name has to find it whether or not it
+    published results.
+    """
+    scored = _town(MIN_SCHOOLS, "Beccles", "Suffolk", start=300000)
+    unscored = _town(2, "Beccles", "Suffolk", start=400000)
+    for r in unscored:
+        r["rwm_expected_pct"] = np.nan
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(scored + unscored))
+
+    place = reg["town:beccles"]
+    assert place.publishes_phase("primary")
+    assert len(place.phase_urns["primary"]) == MIN_SCHOOLS + 2
+
+
+def test_the_secondary_threshold_counts_its_own_metric():
+    # A town full of scored primaries must not thereby publish a secondary page.
+    rows = _town(MIN_SCHOOLS, "Brentwood", "Essex")
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(rows))
+    assert not reg["town:brentwood"].publishes_phase("secondary")
+
+
+def test_an_outcode_publishes_no_phase_variants():
+    """There is no /schools/near/[outcode]/[phase] route, by design.
+
+    Nobody searches "primary schools in SW11", so the spec gives outcodes no
+    phase variants. The registry computed them anyway, and the place page —
+    which links whatever phases the registry reports — put two 404s on every
+    outcode page in the site.
+
+    This is the single rule now: a kind with no phase route reports no phases,
+    so neither the page nor the sitemap can offer one.
+    """
+    rows = [{"urn": 500000 + i, "school_name": f"SW11 School {i}",
+             "town": "London", "local_authority": "Wandsworth",
+             "postcode": "SW11 1AA"} for i in range(MIN_SCHOOLS + 3)]
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(rows))
+
+    place = reg["outcode:sw11"]
+    assert place.phase_urns == {}
+    assert not place.publishes_phase("primary")
+    assert not place.publishes_phase("secondary")
+
+
+def test_an_authority_still_publishes_phase_variants():
+    """Authorities keep theirs — "primary schools in Kent" is a real query,
+    and /schools/authority/[la]/[phase] is the route that serves it."""
+    reg = build_place_registry(_df(_town(MIN_SCHOOLS, "Maidstone", "Kent")))
+    assert reg["authority:kent"].publishes_phase("primary")

backend/tests/test_places_api.py

@@ -45,10 +45,30 @@ def test_registry_carries_a_count_per_place(client):
     assert town["count"] == 6
 
 
-def test_place_detail_returns_its_schools_ranked(client):
+def test_place_detail_returns_its_schools_alphabetically(client):
+    """A place page is read by someone looking for a school they can name.
+
+    Scanning for it is what the order should serve, so the list is A-Z.
+    /api/rankings is where the league-table ordering lives.
+    """
     body = client.get("/api/places/town/brentwood").json()
     assert body["place"]["name"] == "Brentwood"
-    scores = [s["rwm_expected_pct"] for s in body["schools"]]
+    names = [s["school_name"] for s in body["schools"]]
+    assert names == sorted(names, key=str.lower)
+
+
+def test_place_ordering_ignores_case(client):
+    body = client.get("/api/places/town/brentwood").json()
+    names = [s["school_name"] for s in body["schools"]]
+    # A capitalised name must not sort ahead of every lowercase one.
+    assert names == sorted(names, key=str.lower)
+
+
+def test_the_rankings_endpoint_still_ranks_by_metric(client):
+    # Alphabetical is a place-page decision, not a site-wide one.
+    body = client.get("/api/rankings?metric=rwm_expected_pct&phase=primary").json()
+    scores = [r["rwm_expected_pct"] for r in body.get("rankings", [])
+              if r.get("rwm_expected_pct") is not None]
     assert scores == sorted(scores, reverse=True)
 
 
@@ -69,3 +89,51 @@ def test_unknown_place_404s(client):
 
 def test_unknown_kind_404s(client):
     assert client.get("/api/places/planet/mars").status_code == 404
+
+
+def _straddling_df() -> pd.DataFrame:
+    """Eight schools in CM13: six in Essex, which has a page, and two in an
+    authority too small to have one.
+
+    Two, not one: the registry ignores an authority holding a single school in
+    a place, because GIAS carries occasional postcode errors."""
+    df = _schools_df()
+    extra = df.iloc[:2].copy()
+    extra["urn"] = [200000, 200001]
+    extra["school_name"] = ["Scilly School 0", "Scilly School 1"]
+    extra["local_authority"] = "Isles Of Scilly"
+    return pd.concat([df, extra], ignore_index=True)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def straddling_client(monkeypatch):
+    from backend import app as app_module
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(app_module, "load_school_data", _straddling_df)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(app_module, "load_latest_school_data", _straddling_df)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(app_module, "_place_registry", None)
+    return TestClient(app_module.app, raise_server_exceptions=False)
+
+
+def test_an_outcode_reports_no_phases_because_it_has_no_phase_route(client):
+    body = client.get("/api/places/outcode/cm13").json()
+    assert body["place"]["phases"] == []
+
+
+def test_an_authority_reports_the_phases_it_publishes(client):
+    body = client.get("/api/places/authority/essex").json()
+    assert body["place"]["phases"] == ["primary"]
+
+
+def test_an_authority_without_a_page_is_named_but_carries_no_slug(straddling_client):
+    """Two English authorities — City of London and the Isles of Scilly — hold
+    fewer than the five schools a page needs, so they have no page.
+
+    Naming them is still right: the page says where the place is. Linking them
+    would not be. A null slug is what tells the page to print the name plainly
+    rather than invent a URL that 404s.
+    """
+    body = straddling_client.get("/api/places/outcode/cm13").json()
+    by_name = {a["name"]: a for a in body["place"]["authorities"]}
+    assert by_name["Essex"]["slug"] == "essex"
+    assert by_name["Isles Of Scilly"]["slug"] is None

backend/tests/test_sitemap.py

@@ -288,3 +288,19 @@ def test_outcodes_get_no_phase_variants(place_sitemaps):
     # Nobody searches "primary schools in CM13"; the routes do not exist.
     xml = place_sitemaps["outcodes-1.xml"]
     assert "/primary" not in xml and "/secondary" not in xml
+
+
+def test_authority_phase_variants_are_submitted_in_their_own_namespace(place_sitemaps):
+    """302 of these were already in the sitemap, and every one 404'd.
+
+    The spec gives authorities a phase route; the plan built the bare
+    authority route and dropped it. Nothing noticed because the sitemap was
+    written from the registry, which was right, while the routes were written
+    by hand. This test fails if the URL ever leaves the sitemap; the e2e
+    journey fails if the route ever leaves the app.
+    """
+    xml = place_sitemaps["places-1.xml"]
+    assert ("<loc>https://www.schoolcompare.co.uk"
+            "/schools/authority/essex/primary</loc>") in xml
+    # And never in the town namespace, which is a different set of schools.
+    assert "/schools/essex/primary" not in xml

e2e/tests/journeys.spec.ts

@@ -1909,6 +1909,57 @@ test('phase variants are submitted in the places sitemap', async ({ page }) => {
   expect(xml).toMatch(/\/schools\/[a-z0-9-]+\/primary</);
 });
 
+test('authority phase variants are submitted, and in their own namespace', async ({ page }) => {
+  // 302 of these were in the sitemap for weeks and every one 404'd: the spec
+  // called for the route, the plan built the bare authority page and dropped
+  // it, and the sitemap — written from the registry — kept submitting them.
+  const xml = await (await page.request.get('/sitemaps/places-1.xml')).text();
+  expect(xml).toMatch(/\/schools\/authority\/[a-z0-9-]+\/primary</);
+});
+
+test('every place link a place page emits resolves', async ({ page }) => {
+  /*
+   * The guard that was missing. Each family built its own links, so a URL
+   * shape belonging to one namespace was used by all four: an authority page
+   * offered "Primary schools in Barnet" pointing at /schools/barnet/primary,
+   * the *town*. For 87 of 151 authorities that 404'd; for the other 64 it
+   * quietly served a different set of schools under the same name.
+   *
+   * Only /schools links are followed. The per-school links are the same
+   * component the school-page journeys already cover, and there are hundreds
+   * of them on a page.
+   */
+  for (const kind of ['town', 'authority', 'outcode'] as const) {
+    const place = await firstPlaceOfKind(page, kind);
+    const prefix = kind === 'authority' ? '/schools/authority/'
+      : kind === 'outcode' ? '/schools/near/' : '/schools/';
+    await page.goto(`${prefix}${place.slug}`);
+
+    const hrefs = [...new Set(
+      await page.locator('a[href^="/schools"]').evaluateAll(
+        (els) => els.map((e) => e.getAttribute('href')!)))];
+    expect(hrefs.length, `${kind} page links no other place`).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+
+    for (const href of hrefs) {
+      const res = await page.request.get(href);
+      expect(res.status(), `${kind} page links ${href}`).toBe(200);
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+test('an outcode page offers no phase link, because no such page exists', async ({ page }) => {
+  // Nobody searches "primary schools in SW11", so the spec gives outcodes no
+  // phase route. The registry computed the variants anyway and the page
+  // linked them, putting two 404s on each of 1,720 outcode pages.
+  const place = await firstPlaceOfKind(page, 'outcode');
+  const detail = await (await page.request.get(
+    `/api/places/outcode/${place.slug}`)).json();
+  expect(detail.place.phases).toEqual([]);
+
+  await page.goto(`/schools/near/${place.slug}`);
+  await expect(page.getByRole('navigation', { name: 'By phase' })).toHaveCount(0);
+});
+
 test('no page title repeats the brand', async ({ page }) => {
   // The root layout appends '| schoolcompare' to a plain-string title. Any
   // route whose title already carries the brand must opt out with
@@ -1947,7 +1998,42 @@ test('a place straddling a boundary names every authority it sits in', async ({
   await page.goto(`/schools/near/${straddling!.slug}`);
 
   for (const a of detail.place.authorities) {
-    await expect(page.locator(`a[href="/schools/authority/${a.slug}"]`).first())
+    if (a.slug) {
-      .toBeVisible();
+      await expect(page.locator(`a[href="/schools/authority/${a.slug}"]`).first())
+        .toBeVisible();
+    } else {
+      // No page of its own — City of London and the Isles of Scilly are
+      // under the threshold. Named, deliberately not linked.
+      await expect(page.locator('header p')).toContainText(a.name);
+      await expect(page.getByRole('link', { name: a.name })).toHaveCount(0);
+    }
   }
 });
+
+test('a place page lists its schools alphabetically', async ({ page }) => {
+  // Someone on a place page is usually looking for a school they can name,
+  // so the order should serve scanning for it. /rankings is where the
+  // league-table ordering lives.
+  const { places } = await (await page.request.get('/api/places')).json();
+  const town = places.find((p: { kind: string; count: number }) =>
+    p.kind === 'town' && p.count >= 5);
+  expect(town).toBeTruthy();
+
+  await page.goto(`/schools/${town.slug}`);
+  const names = await page.locator('a[href^="/school/"]').allTextContents();
+  expect(names.length).toBeGreaterThan(1);
+
+  const sorted = [...names].sort((a, b) =>
+    a.toLowerCase().localeCompare(b.toLowerCase()));
+  expect(names).toEqual(sorted);
+});
+
+test('the rankings page still orders by score, not name', async ({ page }) => {
+  // Alphabetical is a place-page decision, not a site-wide one.
+  const res = await page.request.get('/api/rankings?metric=rwm_expected_pct&phase=primary');
+  expect(res.ok()).toBeTruthy();
+  const scores = ((await res.json()).rankings ?? [])
+    .map((r: { rwm_expected_pct: number | null }) => r.rwm_expected_pct)
+    .filter((v: number | null) => v != null);
+  expect(scores).toEqual([...scores].sort((a: number, b: number) => b - a));
+});

nextjs-app/__tests__/components/PlaceView.test.tsx

@@ -243,3 +243,106 @@ describe('PlaceView authorities', () => {
     expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: 'Merton' })).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
 });
+
+describe('PlaceView list ordering', () => {
+  const detail3: PlaceDetail = {
+    place: { kind: 'town', slug: 'brentwood', name: 'Brentwood', count: 2,
+             parent_authority: 'Essex', phases: ['primary'] },
+    schools: [
+      { urn: 1, school_name: 'Alpha Primary', phase: 'Primary',
+        rwm_expected_pct: 40, attainment_8_score: null } as never,
+      { urn: 2, school_name: 'Beta Primary', phase: 'Primary',
+        rwm_expected_pct: 90, attainment_8_score: null } as never,
+    ],
+    averages: { rwm_expected_pct: 65, attainment_8_score: null },
+  };
+
+  it('renders schools in the order the API sent them, not by score', () => {
+    // The API sorts alphabetically now; the component must not re-sort.
+    render(<PlaceView detail={detail3} englandAverage={61} neighbours={[]} />);
+    const links = screen.getAllByRole('link', { name: /Primary$/ });
+    expect(links.map((l) => l.textContent))
+      .toEqual(['Alpha Primary', 'Beta Primary']);
+  });
+
+  it('declares the list as ascending rather than implying a ranking', () => {
+    // An ItemList carrying `position` reads as a ranking unless it says
+    // otherwise, and the table is A-Z.
+    const { container } = render(<PlaceView detail={detail3} englandAverage={61}
+      neighbours={[]} />);
+    const ld = JSON.parse(
+      container.querySelector('script[type="application/ld+json"]')!.textContent!);
+    const list = ld['@graph'].find((n: { '@type': string }) => n['@type'] === 'ItemList');
+    expect(list.itemListOrder).toBe('https://schema.org/ItemListOrderAscending');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('PlaceView phase links', () => {
+  const authority: PlaceDetail = {
+    place: { kind: 'authority', slug: 'barnet', name: 'Barnet', count: 156,
+             parent_authority: null, phases: ['primary', 'secondary'] },
+    schools: [
+      { urn: 1, school_name: 'Alpha Primary', phase: 'Primary',
+        rwm_expected_pct: 82, attainment_8_score: null } as never,
+    ],
+    averages: { rwm_expected_pct: 63, attainment_8_score: null },
+  };
+
+  it('keeps an authority phase link in the authority namespace', () => {
+    // The link was built as `/schools/${slug}/${phase}` for every kind, so an
+    // authority page pointed into the town namespace. For 87 of 151
+    // authorities that 404'd; for the other 64 it silently landed on the town
+    // page of the same name — a different set of schools, and exactly the
+    // duplicate the two namespaces exist to prevent. Barnet is one of the 64.
+    render(<PlaceView detail={authority} englandAverage={61} neighbours={[]} />);
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /^Primary schools in Barnet$/ }))
+      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/schools/authority/barnet/primary');
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /^Secondary schools in Barnet$/ }))
+      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/schools/authority/barnet/secondary');
+  });
+
+  it('still uses the bare namespace for a town', () => {
+    render(<PlaceView detail={detail} englandAverage={61} neighbours={[]} />);
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: /^Primary schools in Brentwood$/ }))
+      .toHaveAttribute('href', '/schools/brentwood/primary');
+  });
+
+  it('offers no phase link when the place publishes none', () => {
+    // Outcodes are the case: no phase route exists for them, so the registry
+    // reports no phases and the nav does not render.
+    const outcode = { ...detail,
+      place: { ...detail.place, kind: 'outcode', slug: 'cm13', name: 'CM13',
+               phases: [] } };
+    render(<PlaceView detail={outcode} englandAverage={61} neighbours={[]} />);
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('navigation', { name: 'By phase' }))
+      .not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('PlaceView unlinkable authorities', () => {
+  const withUnpublished: PlaceDetail = {
+    place: { kind: 'outcode', slug: 'tr21', name: 'TR21', count: 8,
+             parent_authority: 'Cornwall', phases: [],
+             authorities: [
+               { name: 'Cornwall', slug: 'cornwall', count: 6 },
+               { name: 'Isles Of Scilly', slug: null, count: 2 },
+             ] },
+    schools: [
+      { urn: 1, school_name: 'Alpha Primary', phase: 'Primary',
+        rwm_expected_pct: 82, attainment_8_score: null } as never,
+    ],
+    averages: { rwm_expected_pct: 63, attainment_8_score: null },
+  };
+
+  it('names an authority with no page without linking it', () => {
+    // City of London and the Isles of Scilly hold fewer schools than a page
+    // needs. Saying where the place is stays right; linking there would 404.
+    const { container } = render(<PlaceView detail={withUnpublished}
+      englandAverage={61} neighbours={[]} />);
+    expect(screen.getByRole('link', { name: 'Cornwall' })).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.queryByRole('link', { name: 'Isles Of Scilly' }))
+      .not.toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(container.querySelector('header p')?.textContent)
+      .toContain('Isles Of Scilly');
+  });
+});

nextjs-app/app/schools/[place]/[phase]/page.tsx

@@ -37,10 +37,12 @@ export async function generateMetadata({ params }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
   const word = phase === 'secondary' ? 'Secondary' : 'Primary';
   const { name } = detail.place;
   return {
-    title: { absolute: `${word} Schools in ${name} — Ranked | schoolcompare` },
+    // Not "Ranked": the table is alphabetical, so the word would be a claim
+    // the page does not keep.
+    title: { absolute: `${word} Schools in ${name} | schoolcompare` },
     description:
-      `Every ${phase} school in ${name} ranked by results, with Ofsted grades and `
+      `Every ${phase} school in ${name}, with results, Ofsted grades and the local `
-      + `the local average against England.`,
+      + `average against England.`,
     alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl(`/schools/${slug}/${phase}`) },
   };
 }

nextjs-app/app/schools/[place]/page.tsx

@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ export async function generateMetadata({ params }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
     // place title read '... | schoolcompare | schoolcompare'.
     title: { absolute: `Schools in ${name} — Compare ${count} Schools | schoolcompare` },
     description:
-      `Every school in ${name} ranked by SATs and GCSE results, with Ofsted grades, `
+      `Every school in ${name}, with SATs and GCSE results, Ofsted grades, the local `
-      + `the local average against England, and how close you had to live to get a place.`,
+      + `average against England, and how close you had to live to get a place.`,
     alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl(`/schools/${slug}`) },
   };
 }
@@ -74,9 +74,14 @@ export default async function PlacePage({ params }: Props) {
   // defers to its authority rather than publishing a thin page.
   if (detail.averages.rwm_expected_pct == null
       && detail.averages.attainment_8_score == null) {
-    if (detail.place.parent_authority) {
+    // The API's own slug, which is null when that authority is itself under
-      redirect(`/schools/authority/${authoritySlug(detail.place.parent_authority)}`);
+    // the threshold and has no page. Re-slugifying the name here would send
-    }
+    // the reader to a 404 instead of telling them the place has no page.
+    const target = detail.place.authorities?.[0]?.slug
+      ?? (detail.place.parent_authority
+        ? authoritySlug(detail.place.parent_authority)
+        : null);
+    if (target) redirect(`/schools/authority/${target}`);
     notFound();
   }
 

nextjs-app/app/schools/authority/[la]/[phase]/page.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/**
+ * Phase variants of an authority page.
+ *
+ * The spec called for these; the plan built the bare authority route and
+ * dropped them. Nothing caught it, because the sitemap is written from the
+ * place registry — which was right about them all along — while the routes
+ * were written by hand. 302 authority phase URLs were submitted to Google and
+ * every one 404'd, and every authority page linked to a phase page in the
+ * *town* namespace, which is a different set of schools entirely.
+ *
+ * "Primary schools in Kent" is the query these serve, and it is a real one:
+ * admissions are authority-run, so the authority is the unit a parent thinks
+ * in when they have not settled on a town.
+ */
+import { notFound } from 'next/navigation';
+import type { Metadata } from 'next';
+import { fetchPlace } from '@/lib/places';
+import { fetchNationalAverages } from '@/lib/api';
+import { PlaceView } from '@/components/places/PlaceView';
+import { absoluteUrl } from '@/lib/site';
+
+interface Props { params: Promise<{ la: string; phase: string }> }
+
+export const revalidate = 604800;
+export const dynamicParams = true;
+
+const PHASES = ['primary', 'secondary'] as const;
+type Phase = (typeof PHASES)[number];
+
+const isPhase = (v: string): v is Phase => (PHASES as readonly string[]).includes(v);
+
+export async function generateMetadata({ params }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
+  const { la, phase } = await params;
+  if (!isPhase(phase)) return { title: 'Place Not Found' };
+  const detail = await fetchPlace('authority', la, phase);
+  if (!detail || detail.schools.length === 0) return { title: 'Place Not Found' };
+
+  const word = phase === 'secondary' ? 'Secondary' : 'Primary';
+  const { name } = detail.place;
+  return {
+    // "Local Authority" stays in the title for the same reason it is on the
+    // bare authority page: 67 town names collide with an authority name, and
+    // a reader landing on both needs to know which set each covers.
+    title: { absolute: `${word} Schools in ${name} — Local Authority | schoolcompare` },
+    description:
+      `Every ${phase} school in the ${name} local authority, with results, Ofsted `
+      + `grades and the authority average against England.`,
+    alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl(`/schools/authority/${la}/${phase}`) },
+  };
+}
+
+export default async function AuthorityPhasePage({ params }: Props) {
+  const { la, phase } = await params;
+  if (!isPhase(phase)) notFound();
+  const detail = await fetchPlace('authority', la, phase);
+  if (!detail || detail.schools.length === 0) notFound();
+
+  const national = await fetchNationalAverages().catch(() => null);
+  const englandAverage = phase === 'secondary'
+    ? national?.secondary?.attainment_8_score ?? null
+    : national?.primary?.rwm_expected_pct ?? null;
+
+  return <PlaceView detail={detail} phase={phase}
+    englandAverage={englandAverage} neighbours={[]} />;
+}

nextjs-app/app/schools/authority/[la]/page.tsx

@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ export async function generateMetadata({ params }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
   return {
     title: { absolute: `Schools in ${name} — Local Authority | schoolcompare` },
     description:
-      `All ${count} schools in the ${name} local authority, ranked by SATs and GCSE `
+      `All ${count} schools in the ${name} local authority, with SATs and GCSE results, `
-      + `results, with Ofsted grades and the authority average against England.`,
+      + `Ofsted grades and the authority average against England.`,
     alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl(`/schools/authority/${la}`) },
   };
 }

nextjs-app/app/schools/near/[outcode]/page.tsx

@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ export async function generateMetadata({ params }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
   return {
     title: { absolute: `Schools near ${name} | schoolcompare` },
     description:
-      `${count} schools in the ${name} postcode district, ranked by results, with `
+      `${count} schools in the ${name} postcode district, with results, Ofsted grades `
-      + `Ofsted grades and how close you had to live to get a place.`,
+      + `and how close you had to live to get a place.`,
     alternates: { canonical: absoluteUrl(`/schools/near/${outcode}`) },
   };
 }

nextjs-app/components/places/PlaceView.tsx

@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ export function PlaceView({ detail, phase, englandAverage, neighbours }: Props)
         '@type': 'ItemList',
         name: `${phaseWord} in ${place.name}`,
         numberOfItems: schools.length,
+        // Alphabetical, and said so. Without this an ItemList carrying
+        // `position` reads as a ranking, which would be a claim the page
+        // stopped making when the table became A-Z.
+        itemListOrder: 'https://schema.org/ItemListOrderAscending',
         itemListElement: schools.slice(0, 20).map((s, i) => ({
           '@type': 'ListItem',
           position: i + 1,
@@ -177,11 +181,18 @@ export function PlaceView({ detail, phase, englandAverage, neighbours }: Props)
                   and a third of towns cross a boundary: SW19 is mostly Merton
                   but partly Wandsworth, and naming one asserts otherwise. */}
               {authorities.map((a, i) => (
-                <span key={a.slug}>
+                <span key={a.name}>
                   {i > 0 && (i === authorities.length - 1 ? ' and ' : ', ')}
-                  <Link href={`/schools/authority/${a.slug}`} className={styles.inlineLink}>
+                  {/* No slug means no page: City of London and the Isles of
-                    {a.name}
+                      Scilly hold too few schools for one. Saying where the
-                  </Link>
+                      place is stays right; linking there would 404. */}
+                  {a.slug
+                    ? (
+                      <Link href={`/schools/authority/${a.slug}`} className={styles.inlineLink}>
+                        {a.name}
+                      </Link>
+                    )
+                    : a.name}
                 </span>
               ))}
             </>
@@ -192,7 +203,11 @@ export function PlaceView({ detail, phase, englandAverage, neighbours }: Props)
       {!phase && (place.phases ?? []).length > 0 && (
         <nav className={styles.phaseLinks} aria-label="By phase">
           {(place.phases ?? []).map((ph) => (
-            <Link key={ph} href={`/schools/${place.slug}/${ph}`} className={styles.phaseLink}>
+            /* placeUrl, not a template: the bare `/schools/[slug]/[phase]`
+               shape belongs to towns alone, and using it everywhere sent
+               every authority page into the town namespace. */
+            <Link key={ph} href={placeUrl(place.kind, place.slug, ph)}
+              className={styles.phaseLink}>
               {ph === 'secondary' ? 'Secondary schools' : 'Primary schools'} in {place.name}
             </Link>
           ))}

nextjs-app/lib/places.ts

@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ export interface PlaceSummary {
 
 export interface PlaceAuthority {
   name: string;
-  slug: string;
+  /** null when that authority has no page of its own — two English
+   *  authorities hold fewer schools than the threshold. */
+  slug: string | null;
   count: number;
 }
 
@@ -46,9 +48,20 @@ export function placeUrl(kind: string, slug: string, phase?: string): string {
   return phase ? `${base}/${phase}` : base;
 }
 
-/** An authority name as it appears in a URL. */
+/**
+ * An authority name as it appears in a URL.
+ *
+ * Only a fallback: the API sends the slug it built, and that is what should
+ * be used. This mirrors `_slugify` in backend/app.py, collapsed runs and
+ * trimmed hyphens included, so the two cannot disagree about a name like
+ * "Bristol, City of".
+ */
 export function authoritySlug(name: string): string {
-  return name.toLowerCase().trim().replace(/[^\w\s-]/g, '').replace(/\s+/g, '-');
+  return name.toLowerCase().trim()
+    .replace(/[^\w\s-]/g, '')
+    .replace(/\s+/g, '-')
+    .replace(/-+/g, '-')
+    .replace(/^-|-$/g, '');
 }
 
 const API = process.env.FASTAPI_URL || process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL