Highbury Fields School
Secondary · London · N5 1AR
Data updated
Earlier grade, confirmed by a later ungraded inspection
Ofsted's most recent (ungraded) visit confirmed the school remains Outstanding. Ungraded inspections do not award a new grade.
Inspected 28 September 2022
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
733 pupils · 87% of 840 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Community school
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Girls
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 51.3% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 52% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 17.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 1.8% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- URN
- 100455
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 98 families named it first for 136 Year 7 places, 0.72 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 0.991 miles; distance decided places in 7 of the 13 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2007 to 2026. An ungraded Ofsted inspection on 28 September 2022 confirmed its earlier grade, Outstanding. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 5.1% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.72 first-choice applications per place136 places offered · 98 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Places by distance, last offered at 0.991 miles for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 0.991 miles
measured in a straight line.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: London school admissions · Islington school admissions
GCSE results (2024/2025)
134 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
A-level results (2024/2025)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is ahead of the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| St Regis Church of England Academy | 36.5 | |
| The Oaks Academy | 35.4 | |
| Fulwood Academy | 41.4 | |
| Co-op Academy Strinesdale | 34 | |
| Thornhill Academy | 41.4 | |
| Newland School for Girls | 44.2 | |
| Lea Manor High School | 36.3 | |
| The UCL Academy | 45.9 | |
| The Ruth Gorse Academy | 49.1 | |
| The Elms Academy | 52.8 | |
| Lordswood Boys' School | 43.3 | |
| Harris Academy South Norwood | 48.2 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
Black African 22% (Islington 17%, England 5%) · White British 18% (Islington 24%, England 59%) · Any other White background 15% (Islington 14%, England 7%) · Any other ethnic group 13% (Islington 9%, England 3%) · Asian Bangladeshi 9% (Islington 7%, England 2%) · Any other Mixed background 8% (Islington 9%, England 3%) · Black Caribbean 3% (Islington 4%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Asian 3% (Islington 2%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 2% (Islington 4%, England 2%) · Any other Black background 2% (Islington 2%, England 1%) · Any other Asian background 1% (Islington 2%, England 3%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Islington 2%, England 1%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Islington 1%, England 5%) · White Irish 1% (Islington 1%, England 0%) · other groups together 1%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
2.47 suspensions per 100 pupils and 0 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Islington: 24.77 suspensions and 0.08 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
87% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 13% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 1.7% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained secondaries: 0.22% vacant, 0.42% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
76.7% of teachers took sickness absence, 11.7 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £65,154; 10.2% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Spending per pupil (2025-26)
Where the money went (2025-26)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 74% (77%) · premises 12% (6%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 6% (7%) · supplies and services 20% (10%) · educational supplies 4% (6%) · bought-in professional services 3% (2%) · catering 2% (3%)
Reserves (2025-26)
Revenue reserve £240,443; in-year balance +£75,422
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Higher spending is not a measure of quality. Source: council-maintained school finance return, 2025-26, DfE · how spending is compared
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Where students go after sixth form
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 27 September 2022: School remains Outstanding
- 4 October 2016: Outstanding
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 7/10less deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 6/10around the middle for England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 67.1% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 12.1% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 57.1% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 15.2% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 62% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 42.6% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 29.9% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 27.3% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 1.8% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 77.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 12.9% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 58.7% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01002745 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £670,0001,182 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £495,500–£1,045,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are among the dearest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (1.59 km, 2026 entry): 2,870 sales, median £645,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 1an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 5an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 39an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 9an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted