Microburbs Australian Property Data

Suburb · Schools

suburbs_schools_nearby

Read-onlyIdempotent

Shown in the suburb report as the 'Schools' card and table in the Lifestyle section.

Government schools located inside the suburb plus non-government schools within about 1 km of it, with NAPLAN rank, intake rank and attendance. For the schools whose public catchment covers the suburb, use /schools/catchment.

Price: 5¢ per call.

Tool call template

Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.

{
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "arguments": {
      "suburb_name": "<suburb_name>"
    },
    "name": "suburbs_schools_nearby"
  }
}

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`suburb_name`	Yes

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed1 schema field changedSep 15, 2026

changedOutput schema / (root)

Previous value: -{
-  "properties": {
-    "available": {
-      "anyOf": [
-        {
-          "type": "boolean"
-        },
-        {
-          "type": "null"
-        }
-      ],
-      "description": "`false` on no-data responses. Omitted on success — branch on `data !== null` if you want a single discriminator.",
-      "title": "Available"
-    },
-    "data": {
-      "anyOf": [
-        {
-          "items": {
-            "additionalProperties": true,
-            "description": "One school within the suburb's catchment radius.",
-            "example": {
-              "area_level": "suburb",
-              "area_name": "Belmont North",
-              "attendance_rate": 0.89,
-              "boys": 90,
-              "gender": "coed",
-              "girls": 82,
-              "id": 42002,
-              "name": "Belmont North Public School",
-              "naplan_rank": 0.6282832390938133,
-              "school_level_type": "Primary",
-              "school_sector_type": "Public",
-              "socioeconomic_rank": 0.17342543077837194
-            },
-            "properties": {
-              "area_level": {
-                "description": "Always 'suburb'.",
-                "title": "Area Level",
-                "type": "string"
-              },
-              "area_name": {
-                "description": "Suburb (SAL) name.",
-                "title": "Area Name",
-                "type": "string"
-              },
-              "attendance_rate": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Share of school days actually attended by the average enrolled student, as a fraction between 0 and 1 — 0.89 means 89%. Multiply by 100 to display. Most schools cluster in the high 0.8s to low 0.9s, so small differences matter more than the range suggests.",
-                "title": "Attendance Rate"
-              },
-              "boys": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Number of male students enrolled — a headcount, despite the numeric type. Add to `girls` for total enrolment, which is the best available proxy for school size.",
-                "title": "Boys"
-              },
-              "gender": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "string"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Who the school enrols — 'coed', 'girls' (girls only) or 'boys' (boys only).",
-                "title": "Gender"
-              },
-              "girls": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Number of female students enrolled — a headcount. See `boys`.",
-                "title": "Girls"
-              },
-              "id": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Stable numeric identifier for the school, for joining these rows across calls. Delivered as a number but it is an identifier — do not do arithmetic on it or compare its magnitude.",
-                "title": "Id"
-              },
-              "name": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "string"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "The school's full name, as officially registered.",
-                "title": "Name"
-              },
-              "naplan_rank": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "The school's academic standing on national NAPLAN testing, as a percentile between 0 and 1 where higher is better — 0.63 puts the school ahead of about 63% of schools, i.e. in roughly the top 40%. A fraction, not a percentage and not a raw test score. Null when the school has no published NAPLAN standing.",
-                "title": "Naplan Rank"
-              },
-              "school_level_type": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "string"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Which years the school covers — 'Primary', 'Secondary', or 'Combined' for a school spanning both.",
-                "title": "School Level Type"
-              },
-              "school_sector_type": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "string"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "Who runs the school — 'Public' (government), 'Private', or 'Non-Government' (the wider category including Catholic and independent schools). Fee-paying status is implied, not stated.",
-                "title": "School Sector Type"
-              },
-              "socioeconomic_rank": {
-                "anyOf": [
-                  {
-                    "type": "number"
-                  },
-                  {
-                    "type": "null"
-                  }
-                ],
-                "description": "How advantaged the school's community is, as a percentile between 0 and 1 where higher means more advantaged — 0.17 sits near the bottom of the national distribution. Measures the intake's socio-economic background, not teaching quality, and it is separate from `naplan_rank`: schools rank high on one and low on the other.",
-                "title": "Socioeconomic Rank"
-              }
-            },
-            "required": [
-              "area_name",
-              "area_level"
-            ],
-            "title": "SchoolNearbyRow",
-            "type": "object"
-          },
-          "type": "array"
-        },
-        {
-          "type": "null"
-        }
-      ],
-      "description": "The endpoint's payload, or `null` when Microburbs has no value.",
-      "title": "Data"
-    },
-    "message": {
-      "anyOf": [
-        {
-          "type": "string"
-        },
-        {
-          "type": "null"
-        }
-      ],
-      "description": "Human-readable explanation. Omitted on success.",
-      "title": "Message"
-    },
-    "reason": {
-      "anyOf": [
-        {
-          "type": "string"
-        },
-        {
-          "type": "null"
-        }
-      ],
-      "description": "Machine-readable slug naming the no-data condition (e.g. `no_avm_for_GANSW704074813`). Stable per endpoint. Omitted on success.",
-      "title": "Reason"
-    }
-  },
-  "title": "ApiResponse[list[SchoolNearbyRow]]",
-  "type": "object",
-  "x-fastmcp-top-level-schema": "ApiResponse_list_SchoolNearbyRow__"
-}New value: +null

First observedSep 14, 2026

TDQS

A4/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly, idempotent, non-destructive and closed-world, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds genuinely new context: the geographic threshold used for inclusion (about 1 km) and a per-call price of 5¢, which materially affects an agent's decision to invoke it repeatedly.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Short and mostly front-loaded, with the inclusion rule stated early and the cost isolated at the end. The opening line about the report card and Lifestyle section is orientation rather than operational information, so it spends a bit of space that does not help invocation.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

With no output schema, the description usefully enumerates the returned fields and the inclusion radius, which covers the result side well. For a one-parameter lookup the main remaining hole is the expected format of the suburb identifier, which is documented nowhere.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters2/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 0% for the single required parameter, so the description carries the full burden and does not meet it. It never states whether suburb_name expects a plain name, a postcode-qualified name, or an ID, nor how ambiguous names are resolved.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

Names the concrete resource (schools) with an exact scope: government schools inside the suburb plus non-government schools within about 1 km. It also lists the attributes returned (NAPLAN rank, intake rank, attendance) and explicitly separates itself from the catchment route, so an agent can tell the two apart without opening a schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Gives an explicit routing rule: use /schools/catchment for schools whose public catchment covers the suburb, implying this tool should be used for point-location proximity. It does not say when to prefer this over suburb-level aggregate or property-level school tools, but the guidance present is clear and actionable.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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