fix(pipeline): decode GIAS extracts as Windows-1252

GIAS publishes its CSVs in Windows-1252 and sends no charset. The tap read
resp.text, so requests guessed the codec, and the encoding="latin-1" passed
to read_csv did nothing on already-decoded text. On 3 Oct 2026 the guess was
windows-1250, and "St Thomas à Becket" (138950, 149557) was stored as
"St Thomas ŕ Becket". A different guess on another day would garble other
accented names.

Both streams now decode the downloaded bytes themselves (gias_csv.py). A byte
Windows-1252 leaves undefined becomes U+FFFD with a logged warning instead of
failing the load, so one odd name cannot stop the daily refresh. None of the
nine extracts checked (1 Jul to 3 Oct 2026) contains such a byte.

Checked by running the tap on the real 3 Oct extract with .text forced to
windows-1250: all 52,586 rows decode, with no "ŕ" and no replacement
characters.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

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

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import { render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
 
 import {
+  nearbyNoun,
   NearbySchoolsSection,
   shouldRenderNearby,
 } from '@/components/school/NearbySchoolsSection';
@@ -42,7 +43,13 @@ function school(overrides: Partial<NearbySchool> = {}): NearbySchool {
 
 function renderSection(nearby: NearbySchool[]) {
   return render(
-    <NearbySchoolsSection urn={100001} thisMetricValue={72} nearby={nearby} />,
+    <NearbySchoolsSection
+      urn={100001}
+      schoolName="Meadowbrook Primary School"
+      phase="Primary"
+      thisMetricValue={72}
+      nearby={nearby}
+    />,
   );
 }
 
@@ -83,10 +90,15 @@ describe('what the section claims', () => {
   });
 
   it('shows no chips at all when nothing is shared, rather than inventing one', () => {
-    const { container } = renderSection([
+    const { container } = render(
-      school({ shared: [] }),
+      <NearbySchoolsSection
-      school({ urn: 100003, shared: [] }),
+        urn={100001}
-    ]);
+        schoolName="Meadowbrook Primary School"
+        phase="Primary"
+        thisMetricValue={72}
+        nearby={[school({ shared: [] }), school({ urn: 100003, shared: [] })]}
+      />,
+    );
     // The card still carries its distance, name, type and figure — just no
     // claim of likeness.
     expect(container.querySelectorAll('li ul').length).toBe(0);
@@ -94,6 +106,37 @@ describe('what the section claims', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('what the lede calls the set', () => {
+  it.each([
+    ['Primary', 'primary schools'],
+    ['Middle deemed primary', 'primary schools'],
+    ['Secondary', 'secondary schools'],
+    ['Middle deemed secondary', 'secondary schools'],
+    ['All-through', 'all-through schools'],
+    // GIAS phase 6. Its candidates span the whole secondary group, so no
+    // single noun fits and it takes the honest general one.
+    ['16 plus', 'schools and colleges'],
+    ['', 'schools'],
+    [null, 'schools'],
+  ])('calls a %s school\'s neighbours "%s"', (phase, expected) => {
+    expect(nearbyNoun(phase)).toBe(expected);
+  });
+
+  it('never calls a sixth form college\'s neighbours primary schools', () => {
+    render(
+      <NearbySchoolsSection
+        urn={100001}
+        schoolName="Barnet Sixth Form College"
+        phase="16 plus"
+        thisMetricValue={null}
+        nearby={[school(), school({ urn: 100003 })]}
+      />,
+    );
+    expect(screen.getByText(/Other schools and colleges near Barnet Sixth Form College/)).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.queryByText(/primary schools/)).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+});
+
 describe('cards', () => {
   it('links each school to its canonical slug', () => {
     renderSection([school(), school({ urn: 100003, school_name: 'Oakfield Primary School' })]);

nextjs-app/components/school/NearbySchools.module.css

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 .heading { font-family: var(--font-display); font-size: 1.4rem; letter-spacing: -0.4px; margin: 0; }
+.lede { margin: 0.5rem 0 1.25rem; color: var(--text-secondary); max-width: 64ch; }
 .caption { margin: 1rem 0 0; font-size: 0.72rem; color: var(--text-muted); }
 
-.top { display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: space-between; gap: 1rem; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; }
+.top { display: flex; align-items: flex-start; justify-content: space-between; gap: 1rem; }
 .arrows { display: flex; gap: 0.5rem; flex: none; }
 .arrow { width: 44px; height: 44px; display: grid; place-items: center; cursor: pointer; border: 1px solid var(--border-strong); border-radius: 999px; background: var(--bg-card); color: var(--brand); }
 .arrow:hover:not(:disabled) { border-color: var(--brand); background: var(--brand-bg); }
@@ -14,10 +15,10 @@
 .scroller { display: grid; grid-auto-flow: column; grid-auto-columns: calc((100% - 1.8rem) / 3); gap: 0.9rem; overflow-x: auto; scroll-snap-type: x mandatory; padding: 2px; margin: -2px; list-style: none; scrollbar-width: none; -ms-overflow-style: none; }
 .scroller::-webkit-scrollbar { display: none; }
 @media (max-width: 820px) { .scroller { grid-auto-columns: calc((100% - 0.9rem) / 2); } }
-/* Touch widths (MOBILE.md): the arrows would take 96px from a 328px card, for
+/* Touch widths (MOBILE.md): the arrows would take 96px from a 328px card and
-   a control swiping already provides. They go, and the documented right-edge
+   crush the lede into four lines, for a control swiping already provides. They
-   fade carries the affordance — lifting at the end of the travel, where there
+   go, and the documented right-edge fade carries the affordance — lifting at
-   is nothing more to hint at. */
+   the end of the travel, where there is nothing more to hint at. */
 @media (max-width: 640px) {
   .top { display: block; }
   .arrows { display: none; }

nextjs-app/components/school/NearbySchoolsCarousel.tsx

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * The scroller and its arrows.
  *
  * `children` are the server-rendered cards and `header` the server-rendered
- * heading: both stay server components, passed through, so this file
+ * heading and lede: both stay server components, passed through, so this file
  * owns a DOM ref and nothing else. That is what keeps all six links in the
  * initial HTML — a carousel that mounted cards on click would put four of the
  * six beyond a crawler and beyond a reader with no JavaScript.

nextjs-app/components/school/NearbySchoolsSection.tsx

@@ -13,10 +13,8 @@
  * reached on their behalf.
  *
  * There is deliberately no "how these are chosen" panel: the method is already
- * visible in the chips and the distances. The single caption line is not a
+ * visible in the lede, the chips and the distances. The single caption line is
- * method note — it is the one thing a card cannot self-correct.
+ * not a method note — it is the one thing a card cannot self-correct.
- *
- * Nor is there a lede: "Other primary schools near X" only restated the heading.
  */
 
 import Link from 'next/link';
@@ -34,6 +32,28 @@ export function shouldRenderNearby(nearby?: NearbySchool[] | null): boolean {
   return (nearby?.length ?? 0) >= MINIMUM;
 }
 
+/**
+ * What the lede calls the set of schools it is showing.
+ *
+ * Derived from the school's own GIAS phase rather than the template it renders
+ * with, because those disagree for "16 plus" (GIAS phase 6): a sixth-form
+ * college renders the primary template — computeSchoolFlags tests for the
+ * substring "secondary" — while the backend correctly matches it against the
+ * secondary group. Taking the noun from the template would print "Other primary
+ * schools near <sixth form college>" above a row of secondaries.
+ *
+ * A 16-plus school's candidates span the whole secondary group, so no single
+ * noun fits and it gets the honest general one.
+ */
+export function nearbyNoun(phase: string | null | undefined): string {
+  const text = (phase ?? '').trim().toLowerCase();
+  if (text === 'all-through') return 'all-through schools';
+  if (text === '16 plus') return 'schools and colleges';
+  if (text.includes('secondary')) return 'secondary schools';
+  if (text.includes('primary')) return 'primary schools';
+  return 'schools';
+}
+
 function metricLabel(key: string): string {
   return key === 'attainment_8_score' ? 'Attainment 8' : 'Reading, writing & maths';
 }
@@ -45,16 +65,25 @@ function formatMetric(value: number | null, key: string): string {
 
 export function NearbySchoolsSection({
   urn,
+  schoolName,
+  phase,
   thisMetricValue,
   nearby,
 }: {
   urn: number;
+  schoolName: string;
+  /** The school's own GIAS phase, not the template it renders with. */
+  phase: string | null | undefined;
   thisMetricValue: number | null;
   nearby?: NearbySchool[] | null;
 }) {
   if (!shouldRenderNearby(nearby)) return null;
   const schools = nearby as NearbySchool[];
+
+  // One card matched on phase alone, so the section may not claim the set
+  // shares an intake with this school.
   const metricKey = schools[0].metric_key;
+  const noun = nearbyNoun(phase);
 
   return (
     <Section id="nearby">
@@ -62,9 +91,12 @@ export function NearbySchoolsSection({
         count={schools.length}
         labelledBy="nearby-schools-heading"
         header={
-          <h2 id="nearby-schools-heading" className={styles.heading}>
+          <div>
-            Other schools nearby
+            <h2 id="nearby-schools-heading" className={styles.heading}>
-          </h2>
+              Other schools nearby
+            </h2>
+            <p className={styles.lede}>{`Other ${noun} near ${schoolName}.`}</p>
+          </div>
         }
       >
         {schools.map((school) => (

nextjs-app/components/school/PrimarySchoolSections.tsx

@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ export function PrimarySchoolSections({
       {/* Last: it is where the reader goes next, not part of this school. */}
       <NearbySchoolsSection
         urn={schoolInfo.urn}
+        schoolName={schoolInfo.school_name}
+        phase={schoolInfo.phase}
         thisMetricValue={flags.latestResults?.rwm_expected_pct ?? null}
         nearby={nearbySchools}
       />

nextjs-app/components/school/SecondarySchoolSections.tsx

@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ export function SecondarySchoolSections({
       {/* Last: it is where the reader goes next, not part of this school. */}
       <NearbySchoolsSection
         urn={schoolInfo.urn}
+        schoolName={schoolInfo.school_name}
+        phase={schoolInfo.phase}
         thisMetricValue={flags.latestResults?.attainment_8_score ?? null}
         nearby={nearbySchools}
       />

pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-gias/tap_uk_gias/gias_csv.py

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+"""Read a GIAS extract from the raw bytes of the download.
+
+GIAS writes its CSVs in Windows-1252 and sends no charset, so `resp.text`
+leaves requests to guess the codec. On 3 Oct 2026 it guessed windows-1250 and
+"à" became "ŕ". Decode the bytes ourselves instead.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import io
+
+import pandas as pd
+
+GIAS_ENCODING = "cp1252"
+
+
+def read_gias_csv(content: bytes, logger=None) -> pd.DataFrame:
+    """Every column as a string; a blank cell stays ''."""
+    # Windows-1252 leaves five bytes undefined. One stray byte must not stop
+    # the daily refresh of every school, so it becomes U+FFFD and is logged.
+    text = content.decode(GIAS_ENCODING, errors="replace")
+    undecodable = text.count("�")
+    if undecodable and logger is not None:
+        logger.warning("%d byte(s) in the GIAS extract could not be decoded as %s",
+                       undecodable, GIAS_ENCODING)
+    return pd.read_csv(io.StringIO(text), dtype=str, keep_default_na=False)

pipeline/plugins/extractors/tap-uk-gias/tap_uk_gias/tap.py

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ from datetime import date, timedelta
 from singer_sdk import Stream, Tap
 from singer_sdk import typing as th
 
+from tap_uk_gias.gias_csv import read_gias_csv
+
 GIAS_URL_TEMPLATE = (
     "https://ea-edubase-api-prod.azurewebsites.net"
     "/edubase/downloads/public/edubasealldata{date}.csv"
@@ -74,9 +76,6 @@ class GIASEstablishmentsStream(Stream):
 
     def get_records(self, context):
         """Download GIAS CSV and yield rows."""
-        import io
-
-        import pandas as pd
         import requests
 
         today = date.today()
@@ -94,12 +93,7 @@ class GIASEstablishmentsStream(Stream):
 
         resp.raise_for_status()
 
-        df = pd.read_csv(
+        df = read_gias_csv(resp.content, self.logger)
-            io.StringIO(resp.text),
-            encoding="latin-1",
-            dtype=str,
-            keep_default_na=False,
-        )
 
         for _, row in df.iterrows():
             record = row.to_dict()
@@ -126,9 +120,6 @@ class GIASLinksStream(Stream):
 
     def get_records(self, context):
         """Download GIAS links CSV and yield rows."""
-        import io
-
-        import pandas as pd
         import requests
 
         today = date.today()
@@ -146,12 +137,7 @@ class GIASLinksStream(Stream):
 
         resp.raise_for_status()
 
-        df = pd.read_csv(
+        df = read_gias_csv(resp.content, self.logger)
-            io.StringIO(resp.text),
-            encoding="latin-1",
-            dtype=str,
-            keep_default_na=False,
-        )
 
         for _, row in df.iterrows():
             record = row.to_dict()

pipeline/tests/test_gias_encoding.py

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+"""GIAS publishes its extracts in Windows-1252 and declares no charset.
+
+The tap used to hand pandas `resp.text`, so requests guessed the codec.
+On 3 Oct 2026 it guessed windows-1250, and "St Thomas à Becket" was stored
+as "St Thomas ŕ Becket". The `encoding=` passed to read_csv did nothing,
+because the text was already decoded.
+"""
+import importlib.util
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+MODULE = (Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / 'plugins' / 'extractors' / 'tap-uk-gias'
+          / 'tap_uk_gias' / 'gias_csv.py')
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def gias_csv():
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('gias_csv', MODULE)
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+# Byte for byte as GIAS writes it: 0xE0 à, 0x92 ’, 0xE9 é, 0xB0 °, 0xE7 ç.
+EXTRACT = (
+    b'"URN","EstablishmentName","HeadLastName"\r\n'
+    b'"138950","St Thomas \xe0 Becket Catholic Secondary School","Smith"\r\n'
+    b'"100000","The Dean and Chapter of St Paul\x92s Cathedral","Pr\xe9vert"\r\n'
+    b'"140677","North Star 180\xb0","Fran\xe7ois"\r\n'
+    b'"100001","No head recorded",""\r\n'
+)
+
+
+def test_names_decode_as_windows_1252(gias_csv):
+    df = gias_csv.read_gias_csv(EXTRACT)
+    assert list(df['EstablishmentName']) == [
+        'St Thomas à Becket Catholic Secondary School',
+        'The Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s Cathedral',
+        'North Star 180°',
+        'No head recorded',
+    ]
+    assert list(df['HeadLastName']) == ['Smith', 'Prévert', 'François', '']
+
+
+def test_the_codec_requests_guessed_is_not_used(gias_csv):
+    # What the tap stored on 3 Oct: the same bytes read as windows-1250.
+    assert 'ŕ' in EXTRACT.decode('cp1250')
+    names = ' '.join(gias_csv.read_gias_csv(EXTRACT)['EstablishmentName'])
+    assert 'ŕ' not in names
+
+
+def test_values_stay_strings(gias_csv):
+    df = gias_csv.read_gias_csv(EXTRACT)
+    assert df.loc[0, 'URN'] == '138950'
+
+
+def test_a_byte_windows_1252_leaves_undefined_does_not_stop_the_load(gias_csv, caplog):
+    # 0x81 has no Windows-1252 character. One odd name must not block the daily
+    # refresh of every school, but it must be visible in the log.
+    extract = b'"URN","EstablishmentName"\r\n"100002","Odd \x81 Name"\r\n'
+    with caplog.at_level(logging.WARNING):
+        df = gias_csv.read_gias_csv(extract, logger=logging.getLogger('gias'))
+    assert df.loc[0, 'EstablishmentName'] == 'Odd � Name'
+    assert 'could not be decoded' in caplog.text