City of London Academy Highbury Grove
Secondary · London · N5 2EQ
Data updated
Graded inspection under the pre-November 2025 system
This is an overall-effectiveness grade from the previous inspection framework. The school has not yet had a report-card inspection.
Inspected 26 April 2022
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
892 pupils · 74% of 1,200 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 58.9% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 25% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 13.8% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 3.4% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- URN
- 144962
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 98 families named it first for 174 Year 7 places, 0.56 first choices per place. Its last Year 7 place offered on distance for 2022 entry went to 2.167 miles; distance decided places in 5 of the 13 years of Year 7 rounds we hold, 2007 to 2026. Ofsted last graded it Good on 26 April 2022, under the framework used before November 2025. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 9.3% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.56 first-choice applications per place174 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. Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2022 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 2.167 miles
measurement method not stated by the council.
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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)
199 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 in line with 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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Archbishop's School | 35.2 | |
| Haberdashers' Borough Academy | 47.8 | |
| Harris Academy Clapham | 42.4 | |
| Ark Burlington Danes Academy | 48.1 | |
| Ormiston NEW Academy | 35.7 | |
| Great Yarmouth Charter Academy | 38.6 | |
| Lilian Baylis Technology School | 46.3 | |
| Bobby Moore Academy | 45.6 | |
| Havelock Academy | 40.8 | |
| Dixons Brooklands Academy | 36.1 | |
| The Lowry Academy | 44.7 | |
| Chelsea Academy | 51.9 |
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 19% (Islington 24%, England 59%) · Black African 18% (Islington 17%, England 5%) · Any other White background 12% (Islington 14%, England 7%) · Any other Mixed background 11% (Islington 9%, England 3%) · Any other ethnic group 10% (Islington 9%, England 3%) · Asian Bangladeshi 7% (Islington 7%, England 2%) · Black Caribbean 7% (Islington 4%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 5% (Islington 4%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black African 3% (Islington 2%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Asian 3% (Islington 2%, England 2%) · Any other Black background 2% (Islington 2%, England 1%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Islington 1%, England 5%) · Not recorded 1% (Islington 1%, England 2%) · Any other Asian background 1% (Islington 2%, England 3%) · Asian Indian 1% (Islington 1%, England 4%) · 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)
53.17 suspensions per 100 pupils and 1 permanent exclusion · 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
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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)
83% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 1% moved to another state school · 16% 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)
74.7% of teachers took sickness absence, 8.8 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 £51,891; 12.2% 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 (2024-25)
Where the money went (2024-25)
Share of spending, with the median for secondary schools in brackets: Staff 73% (77%) · premises 14% (5%) · occupation (energy, rates, cleaning) 4% (6%) · supplies and services 8% (11%) · educational supplies 3% (6%) · bought-in professional services 3% (1%) · catering 3% (3%)
Reserves (2024-25)
Revenue reserve -£229,000; in-year balance +£416,000
Spending and reserves, last three years Premium
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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
- 26 April 2022: Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 4/10more deprived than most of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 5/10around the middle for England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 62.8% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 11.8% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 54.4% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 17% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 58.3% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 39.8% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 31.6% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 28.2% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 1.4% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 78.6% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 18% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 60.3% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01002738 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £672,5001,319 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £500,000–£985,000the 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 (1.82 km, 2014 entry): 4,030 sales, median £650,000. 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
- 3an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 12an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 71an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 16an 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