Hatchside School
Hatchside School is a special free school in Ilford for boys and girls aged 2 to 7. It has 102 pupils and room for 128. About 54 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
Aldborough Road North, Newbury Park, Ilford, IG2 7SR020 8590 7272Mr Julian Matthews headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 26 September 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Redbridge council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (74), language and communications needs (14), Severe learning difficulty (9), Other difficulty or disability (3).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 102 | 70 | 62 | 42 | 31 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 54% | 39% | 24% | 31% | 36% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 67% | 41% | 32% | 43% | 45% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 6% | 7% | 12% | 42% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 94% | 94% | 88% | 58% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 89.5% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 10.5% | 14.0% | 17.6% | 24.2% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 6.8% | 7.0% | 14.2% | 18.0% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 3.7% | 7.0% | 3.3% | 6.2% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 42.4% | 34.1% | 48.2% | 66.7% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
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 special 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 schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Torbitt Primary School | Council | 100 m | 491 | Good 2024 | 60 | Compare |
| Oaks Park High School | Council | 560 m | 1,783 | Good 2019 | 84 | Compare |
| Aldborough Primary School | Free school | 1000 m | 347 | Good 2022 | 86 | Compare |
| Downshall Primary School | Academy | 1000 m | 501 | Report card 2026 | 80 | Compare |
| Farnham Green Primary School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 350 | Good 2019 | 66 | Compare |
| Newbury Park Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 752 | No overall grade 2024 | 58 | Compare |
| Atam Academy | Free school | 0.8 miles | 1,083 | Good 2024 | 73 | Compare |
| Avanti Court Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 598 | Good 2022 | 87 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Hatchside School a good school?
Hatchside School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in September 2023.
What is Hatchside School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Hatchside School good at its last full inspection on 26 September 2023.
How many pupils does Hatchside School have?
102 pupils aged 2 to 7 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 128 places, so it is 80% full.
What is attendance like at Hatchside School?
Pupils were in school 89.5% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 42% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Hatchside School have a breakfast club?
Yes. It is on the government's free breakfast club programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Aldborough Road North, Newbury Park, Ilford, IG2 7SR
- Telephone
- 020 8590 7272
- Headteacher
- Mr Julian Matthews
- Free breakfast club
- Yes: on the government's programme, so every pupil can have a free half-hour breakfast club before school (listed since September 2026).
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 2-7, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Astrum Multi Academy Trust (2 schools)
- Local authority
- Redbridge
- Ward
- Aldborough
- Constituency
- Ilford North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 April 2021 (new provision)
- URN
- 148240 · LAESTAB 3177001 · UKPRN 10087501
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.
- 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.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, academy accounts return 2024/25.
- Breakfast club: DfE list of schools on the free breakfast club programme.
- 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.