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Highlands School

Secondary · London · N21 1QQ

Data updated

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Outstanding

SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection

We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →

Quality of education: OutstandingBehaviour & attitudes: OutstandingPersonal development: OutstandingLeadership & management: OutstandingSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 5 November 2024

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

1,694 pupils · 107% of 1,589 capacity (over capacity) (January 2026 census)

School type
Community school
Age range
11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
18.6% of pupils (January 2026)
English as additional language
13.9% of pupils (2024/2025)
SEN support
10.5% of pupils (2024/2025)
EHC plan
4.2% of pupils (2024/2025)
Sixth form
Yes
Website
http://www.highlands.enfield.sch.uk/
URN
132256

In figures

For September 2026 entry, 445 families named it first for 243 Year 7 places, 1.83 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2025 entry went to 0.904 miles; distance decided places in 16 of the 16 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2008 to 2025. At its inspection on 5 November 2024 Ofsted awarded no overall grade; the lowest of the four areas it judged was Outstanding. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 4.7% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

1.83 first-choice applications per place

243 places offered · 445 first-choice applications · heavily oversubscribed

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

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 0.904 miles for 2025 entry.

Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2025 entry) lived within 0.904 miles

measured in a straight line.

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One free check a month, no account needed: your postcode against this school's cutoff history. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools you would be inside, and the address check across every school at once.

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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work

GCSE results (2024/2025)

235 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
55.6
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
79.6%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
64.7%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
5.3
England 4.1

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)

A-level points per entry (England: 35 ≈ B-) B-
36.9
England 35

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school55.6
Median of its 12 closest peers50.7
Enfield average46.9
England46.1

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.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Northgate High SchoolIpswich · 62 miles awayGood50.6
North Leamington SchoolLeamington Spa · 76 miles awayNo current grade57.4
Great Marlow SchoolMarlow · 29 miles awayGood47.9
Moulton School and Science CollegeNorthampton · 54 miles awayGood46.1
Cambourne Village CollegeCambridge · 39 miles awayOutstanding51.7
William Farr CofE Comprehensive SchoolLincoln · 115 miles awayGood50.8
Huntington SchoolYork · 167 miles awayOutstanding48.2
Soham Village CollegeEly · 51 miles awayOutstanding51.2
Kings' SchoolWinchester · 67 miles awayGood57.8
St Wilfrid's Catholic High School & Sixth Form College: A Voluntary AcademyPontefract · 151 miles awayExpected standard46.7
The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form CollegeSwindon · 73 miles awayGood53.5
Priory Community SchoolWeston-Super-Mare · 122 miles awayGood44.2

It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works

Special educational needs

Needs this school records that it caters for, in the order it lists them.

Provision type: Resourced provision.

Resourced provision
18 of 20 places taken nearly full

Unit places come from the school census and describe the position when it was taken, not today. Confirm with the local authority before relying on them.

Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)

White British 33% (Enfield 15%, England 59%) · Any other White background 27% (Enfield 28%, England 7%) · Any other Mixed background 7% (Enfield 7%, England 3%) · Black African 5% (Enfield 17%, England 5%) · Any other ethnic group 5% (Enfield 8%, England 3%) · Not recorded 4% (Enfield 4%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 3% (Enfield 2%, England 2%) · Asian Indian 2% (Enfield 2%, England 4%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Enfield 2%, England 2%) · Any other Asian background 2% (Enfield 3%, England 3%) · Black Caribbean 2% (Enfield 4%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Enfield 1%, England 1%) · Any other Black background 1% (Enfield 2%, England 1%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Enfield 3%, England 2%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Enfield 1%, England 5%) · White Irish 1% (Enfield 0%, England 0%) · other groups together 0%

Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures

Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
4.7%
England 6.6%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
9%
England 17.5%

Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)

4.61 suspensions per 100 pupils and 0 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Enfield: 11.94 suspensions and 0.04 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils

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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

Pupils per qualified teacher
19.8
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

87% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 4% moved to another state school · 8% left the state-funded sector

Vacancies (November 2025)

0% of teaching posts vacant, 1.17% filled temporarily · England, council-maintained secondaries: 0.22% vacant, 0.42% temporary

Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)

77.9% of teachers took sickness absence, 7.1 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 £63,340; 11.1% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%

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Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted

Spending per pupil (2025-26)

This school£8,109
Typical secondary school£7,846

Where the money went (2025-26)

Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 75% (77%) · premises 9% (6%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 6% (7%) · supplies and services 16% (10%) · educational supplies 7% (6%) · bought-in professional services 2% (2%) · catering 1% (3%)

Reserves (2025-26)

Revenue reserve £208,018; in-year balance -£36,892

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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

In sustained education, work or training
96%
Continuing in education
94%
Apprenticeship
2%
Employment
0%

Where students go after sixth form

To university / higher education
70%
Apprenticeship
4%
Employment
10%
Any sustained destination
87%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.

Inspection history since 2015

Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
5/10around the middle for England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
7/10less deprived than most of England
Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher37.1%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications18.2%18.1%
In managerial or professional work36.9%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways16.3%18.1%
Residents in very good health51.6%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier70%62.3%
Social housing18.5%17.1%
Privately rented11.5%20.5%
Detached houses14.5%22.9%
Flats0.7%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms31.5%21.1%
Households with no car or van13.6%23.5%

These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01001473 · how to read area figures

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£641,000315 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
Typical range
£418,500–£846,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (54)£891,000
Semi-detached (103)£800,000
Terraced (48)£630,000
Flat (110)£369,000

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 (1.46 km, 2025 entry): 714 sales, median £633,000. 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
2an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
3an urban school averages 5.7
All reported collisions
8an urban school averages 30.5
Of those, serious or fatal
1an 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

Nearby schools