Ark Academy
All-through · Wembley · HA9 9JR
Data updated
Report-card inspection (current system, from November 2025)
The headline grade shown is the Achievement area of the school's report card.
Inspected 14 April 2026 · report published 21 May 2026
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,639 pupils · 99% of 1,650 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Age range
- 3–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 41.5% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 48.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 9.3% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- Yes
- Website
- www.arkacademy.org
- URN
- 135600
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 173 families named it first for 131 Year 7 places, 1.32 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2026 entry went to 1427.74 m (≈0.89 mi); distance decided places in 7 of the 13 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2014 to 2026. At its report-card inspection on 14 April 2026, under the system Ofsted introduced in November 2025, the Achievement area was judged Strong standard. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 5.3% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
2.14 first-choice applications per place58 places offered · 124 first-choice applications · heavily oversubscribed
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
1.32 first-choice applications per place131 places offered · 173 first-choice applications · oversubscribed
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 490.03 m (≈0.30 mi) for 2026 entry.
Admissions cutoff distance: Reception
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 490.03 m (≈0.30 mi)
measurement method not stated by the council.
Cutoff by admission criterion (2026 entry)
- Sibling
- 5212.34 m (≈3.24 mi)
The criteria above are applied in the order the school sets out in its admission arrangements, and distance is the last of them. A wider figure under one of them is not a wider catchment: it is how far the school reached among children who already met that criterion, before distance decided anything. A child living closer than that figure, who met none of those criteria, was still offered a place only within the distance cutoff above.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2026 entry) lived within 1427.74 m (≈0.89 mi)
measurement method not stated by the council.
Cutoff by admission criterion (2026 entry)
- Sibling
- 4084.53 m (≈2.54 mi)
The criteria above are applied in the order the school sets out in its admission arrangements, and distance is the last of them. A wider figure under one of them is not a wider catchment: it is how far the school reached among children who already met that criterion, before distance decided anything. A child living closer than that figure, who met none of those criteria, was still offered a place only within the distance cutoff above.
Premium shows the exact distance behind every year back to 2020.
See what a pass includes →Would you have got in? Check your postcode
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.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Would you have got in? Check your postcode Premium
Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Wembley school admissions · Brent school admissions
Key stage 2 results (2024/2025)
56 pupils at the end of key stage 2 in 2024/2025
GCSE results (2024/2025)
168 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ark Isaac Newton Academy | 56.7 | |
| The Royal School, Wolverhampton | 43.3 | |
| Bedford Academy | 42.8 | |
| Eastbury Community School | 44.8 | |
| Hatch End High School | 43.9 | |
| London Academy | 51.7 | |
| St Bonaventure's RC School | 47.3 | |
| Wexham School | 39.3 | |
| Uxbridge High School | 43 | |
| The Compton School | 54.8 | |
| Alec Reed Academy | 45.1 | |
| The Chalk Hills Academy | 45.7 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
Black African 17% (Brent 12%, England 5%) · Any other ethnic group 15% (Brent 15%, England 3%) · Any other Asian background 12% (Brent 9%, England 3%) · Asian Indian 12% (Brent 18%, England 4%) · Any other White background 11% (Brent 13%, England 7%) · Asian Pakistani 7% (Brent 5%, England 5%) · Any other Mixed background 6% (Brent 5%, England 3%) · Not recorded 4% (Brent 3%, England 2%) · Any other Black background 3% (Brent 2%, England 1%) · White British 3% (Brent 11%, England 59%) · Black Caribbean 3% (Brent 3%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Brent 2%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black African 2% (Brent 1%, England 1%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Brent 1%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 1% (Brent 1%, England 2%)
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)
7.67 suspensions per 100 pupils and 0 permanent exclusions · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Brent: 10.43 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)
74% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 8% moved to another state school · 17% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
77.9% of teachers took sickness absence, 8.5 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 £58,135; 17.9% 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 (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for all-through schools in brackets: Staff 82% (78%) · premises 3% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 8% (8%) · supplies and services 7% (9%) · educational supplies 6% (6%) · bought-in professional services 0% (1%) · catering 2% (4%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve £662,000; in-year balance -£35,000
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: academy finance return, 2024-25, 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
- 14 April 2026: Strong standard
- 22 February 2022: Outstanding
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 3/10more deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 3/10more deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 37.9% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 21.7% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 25.2% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 27.6% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 46.6% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 15.8% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 47.4% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 36.8% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 0.8% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 86.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 2.8% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 55.2% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01033931 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £494,000386 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £380,000–£659,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
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
- 12an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 26an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 139an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 21an 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
See all primary schools in Wembley →