City Heights E-ACT Academy
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City Heights E-ACT Academy is a sponsored academy in London for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. It has 460 pupils and room for 1,100. About 54 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 19 out of 100. That puts it below schools like it, ahead of 30% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in December 2025 and gave it a report card, which is below.
33 Abbots Park, Tulse Hill, London, SW2 3PW020 3691 4600cityheightsacademy.e-act.org.ukMrs Felicity Koranteng headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 9 December 2025. Instead of one overall word, it now gives a grade for each part of school life. Read the full report on Ofsted's website.
Ofsted says these new grades can't be lined up against the old one-word grades.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2021 | S5 Inspection | Good |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
110 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Lambeth | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 110 | 128 | 164 | 154 | 129 | 108 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 40.6 | 36.7 | 33.0 | 38.8 | 40.7 | 39.4 | 46.7 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -0.37 | -0.75 | -0.71 | -0.14 | -0.41 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 25% | 27% | 24% | 36% | 39% | 23% | 42% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 48% | 48% | 41% | 57% | 60% | 43% | 64% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 3.60 | 3.38 | 2.90 | 3.55 | 3.74 | 3.56 | 4.22 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 47% | 59% | 49% | 45% | 53% | 61% | 52% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 37.1 | 32.8 | 30.2 | 37.1 | 38.5 | 37.1 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 46.6 | 41.3 | 37.8 | 42.6 | 44.7 | 44.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 27.4 | 26.5 | 25.7 | 23.6 | 21.4 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | 56.7 | 54.9 | 64.5 | 53.6 | 55.6 | – | – |
Subjects
Results came out for 16 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
Subjects that did worse than the England average: Geography (11% here, 51% across England), Mathematics (26% here, 53% across England), Combined Science (10% here, 36% across England), Art and Design (35% here, 58% across England).
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 110 | 5% | 26% | 48% | 53% | 3,088 of 3,211 |
| English Literature | 110 | 14% | 59% | 76% | 58% | 1,326 of 3,202 |
| English Language | 110 | 11% | 48% | 63% | 54% | 1,928 of 3,210 |
| Combined Science | 90 | 0% | 10% | 33% | 36% | 2,976 of 3,084 |
| History | 69 | 13% | 41% | 52% | 52% | 2,204 of 3,126 |
| Spanish | 47 | 40% | 55% | 72% | 54% | 965 of 1,941 |
| Statistics | 41 | 5% | 34% | 59% | 51% | 284 of 375 |
| Other Modern Languages | 32 | 38% | 50% | 59% | 49% | 318 of 454 |
| Geography | 27 | 0% | 11% | 41% | 51% | 3,086 of 3,116 |
| Religious Studies | 27 | 4% | 52% | 56% | 60% | 1,284 of 1,825 |
| Physics | 20 | 15% | 70% | 100% | 82% | 1,950 of 2,546 |
| Chemistry | 20 | 15% | 75% | 100% | 81% | 1,778 of 2,537 |
| Biology | 20 | 20% | 85% | 100% | 82% | 1,411 of 2,570 |
| Art and Design | 20 | 10% | 35% | 40% | 58% | 2,397 of 2,818 |
| Drama | 14 | 0% | 0% | 7% | 60% | – |
| Social Studies | 12 | 17% | 42% | 50% | 54% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. 2 of the 3 gaps are smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
834 places were empty (64% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 23% since 2021/22, so places are getting easier to find.
In 2026 every child who applied got a place, so how far away you live didn't matter. That could change if the school gets more popular.
We measure in a straight line from the middle of your postcode to the school. The council measures its own way, and the cut-off changes every year. Use this as a rough guide, and read the council's admissions booklet before you apply.
How places were given out for September 2026. Every child who applied got a place.
What parents say
From Ofsted's Parent View survey: 60 parents answered in the year to 6 April 2026. Parents choose whether to fill it in, and many only do so when an inspection is coming, so don't read too much into small differences. The England figures are the average for secondary schools with enough answers to publish.
Who goes here
Who a school teaches matters. That is why our score compares it with schools that take in a similar mix of children, not with every school in the country.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Specific learning difficulty (68), emotional and mental health (31), language and communications needs (14), Autistic spectrum disorder (13), Moderate learning difficulty (5), Hearing impairment (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 460 | 473 | 549 | 581 | 593 | 650 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 54% | 54% | 52% | 53% | 54% | 51% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 60% | 59% | 57% | 48% | 37% | 33% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 24% | 12% | 13% | 30% | 25% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 6% | 5% | 4% | 5% | 5% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 91.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 8.5% | 8.7% | 11.8% | 8.6% | 6.2% | 7.4% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 4.1% | 4.9% | 5.2% | 5.0% | 4.4% | 2.9% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 4.4% | 3.8% | 6.7% | 3.6% | 1.8% | 4.5% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 28.2% | 28.8% | 37.5% | 29.4% | 17.7% | 20.9% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 11.4 | 28.6 | 16.0 | 3.4 | 0.3 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 164 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 76%, compared with 84% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 79% | 86% | 92% | 89% |
| Education | 77% | 83% | 90% | 86% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 1% | 0% | 2% |
| Work | 1% | 3% | 1% | 1% |
| Not in education, work or training | 11% | 12% | 6% | 9% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the academy accounts return, year to August 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Elmgreen School | Academy | 800 m | 1,082 | Good 2022 | 27 | Compare |
| Dunraven School | Academy | 0.7 miles | 1,744 | Good 2023 | 51 | Compare |
| Trinity Academy | Free school | 1.0 miles | 616 | Good 2022 | 34 | Compare |
| Harris Academy Clapham | Free school | 1.1 miles | 802 | Good 2023 | 29 | Compare |
| Bishop Thomas Grant Catholic Secondary School | Roman Catholic | 1.2 miles | 1,187 | No overall grade 2025 | 94 | Compare |
| La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School | Roman Catholic | 1.3 miles | 1,197 | Outstanding 2023 | 80 | Compare |
| Silburn Reid | Miscellaneous | 1.3 miles | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Ark Evelyn Grace Academy | Academy | 1.3 miles | 320 | No overall grade 2025 | 28 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares City Heights E-ACT Academy with the 50 schools in England whose pupils are most like its own. We match on family income, how many children are learning English, special needs, the neighbourhood, the size of the school and how it admits pupils. Those 50 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 50 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than City Heights E-ACT Academy, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity Academy | Free school | 1.0 miles | 616 | Good 2022 | 34 | Compare |
| Platanos College | Academy | 2.2 miles | 870 | Good 2021 | 35 | Compare |
| Saint Gabriel's College | Church of England | 2.4 miles | 581 | Good 2024 | 58 | Compare |
| Harris Academy Peckham | Academy | 2.7 miles | 458 | No overall grade 2025 | 63 | Compare |
| Harris Academy Wimbledon | Free school | 3.7 miles | 1,073 | Outstanding 2023 | 93 | Compare |
| Harris Invictus Academy Croydon | Free school | 4.3 miles | 963 | Outstanding 2023 | 75 | Compare |
| Harris Academy Morden | Academy | 4.5 miles | 873 | Outstanding 2024 | 84 | Compare |
| Fulham Cross Academy | Academy | 5.0 miles | 588 | Good 2023 | 37 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 19 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 19% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 13 to 25. Every part is judged against schools with a similar mix of pupils. For small schools we pull each part towards the group average, so one unusual year can't swing the score too far.
| What we looked at | How much it counts | Against schools like it | Effect on the score | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results over three years | 20% | below | -0.17 | 2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 110 pupils |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | well below | -0.22 | Ofsted report card, 0.8 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 20% | below | -0.11 | DfE progress measure; 110 pupils |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | above | +0.04 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | -0.01 | 2024/25; 514 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 10% | in line | -0.02 | Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 110 pupils |
| What pupils do next | 5% | well below | -0.10 | 164 pupils |
| What parents say | 5% | in line | +0.00 | Ofsted's Parent View survey, allowing for how many parents replied; 60 responses |
Worked out on 13 September 2026 (method v1). Read how the score works, including every weight and the checks we run. Think a number is wrong? Tell us.
Questions parents ask
Is City Heights E-ACT Academy a good school?
The figures are weak. City Heights E-ACT Academy scores 19 out of 100. That is below schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 30% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 13 to 25, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is City Heights E-ACT Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 9 December 2025 it rated teaching as needs attention, achievement as needs attention, behaviour and attendance as as expected, leadership as as expected.
How good are City Heights E-ACT Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 25% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 40.6, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about half a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does City Heights E-ACT Academy have?
460 pupils aged 11 to 18 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,100 places, so it is 42% full.
Is City Heights E-ACT Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 834 places were empty in 2024/25 (64% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at City Heights E-ACT Academy?
Pupils were in school 91.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 28% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
What do parents say about City Heights E-ACT Academy?
78% of the 60 parents who answered Ofsted's Parent View survey would recommend it to other parents, and 80% say their child is happy there. Across England, 77% of parents would recommend their child's school.
How big are the classes at City Heights E-ACT Academy?
The average class had 22.1 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 6% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does City Heights E-ACT Academy have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- 33 Abbots Park, Tulse Hill, London, SW2 3PW
- Telephone
- 020 3691 4600
- Website
- cityheightsacademy.e-act.org.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Felicity Koranteng
- Type of school
- Sponsored academy (Academy sponsor led, academies)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-18, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- E-Act (37 schools)
- Local authority
- Lambeth
- Ward
- St Martin's
- Constituency
- Clapham and Brixton Hill
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2013 (new provision)
- URN
- 137954 · LAESTAB 2086907 · UKPRN 10037710
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Admissions outcomes: Lambeth council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2024, 2025, 2026.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.