Riverside School
Riverside School is a council special school in London for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 172 pupils and room for 175. About 68 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted visited in April 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
White Hart Lane, Wood Green, London, N22 5QJ020 8889 7814riverside.haringey.sch.ukMr Stephen Hehir headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 15 April 2026. 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 March 2022 | S5 Inspection | Good |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
20 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 | Haringey | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 18 | 22 | 32 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | – | – | – | – | 0.0 | 0.3 | 49.0 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | – | – | – | -1.57 | -1.50 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 48% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 67% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | – | – | – | – | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.42 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 50% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | – | – | – | – | 0.1 | 0.3 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | – | – | – | – | 0.0 | 0.4 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | – | – | – | 0.0 | 0.3 | – | – |
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
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 Haringey council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with autism, hearing impairment, moderate learning difficulties, multi-sensory impairment, other needs, physical disability, social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, visual impairment.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Haringey with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (101), Severe learning difficulty (36), Moderate learning difficulty (19), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (8), emotional and mental health (7), language and communications needs (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 172 | 173 | 163 | 157 | 142 | 139 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 67% | 60% | 60% | 58% | 57% | 55% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 55% | 56% | 60% | 54% | 53% | 49% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 99% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 87.9% 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 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 12.1% | 10.1% | 10.3% | 11.9% | 9.0% | 9.8% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 10.7% | 8.3% | 8.3% | 9.2% | 7.6% | 8.3% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.4% | 1.9% | 2.1% | 2.7% | 1.4% | 1.5% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 39.6% | 28.8% | 34.7% | 39.3% | 28.2% | 36.2% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 17.3 | 16.0 | 6.4 | 14.1 | 10.1 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 29 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 97% | 89% | 93% | 94% |
| Education | 97% | 89% | 93% | 94% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 3% | 6% | 7% | 3% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulberry Academy Woodside | Academy | 70 m | 1,124 | Good 2022 | 67 | Compare |
| Footsteps Trust | Independent | 220 m | 34 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Earlham Primary School | Council | 600 m | 366 | Good 2022 | 57 | Compare |
| Lordship Lane Primary School | Council | 620 m | 469 | Good 2023 | 8 | Compare |
| St Thomas More Catholic School | Academy | 620 m | 1,296 | Outstanding 2024 | 90 | Compare |
| Rowland Hill Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 850 m | 128 | Outstanding 2022 | – | Compare |
| Lift Noel Park | Academy | 900 m | 617 | Not inspected | 96 | Compare |
| St Michael at Bowes CofE Junior School | Church of England | 940 m | 253 | Good 2023 | 75 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Riverside School a good school?
Riverside School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from April 2026 rated its teaching as needs attention.
What is Riverside School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 15 April 2026 it rated teaching as needs attention, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does Riverside School have?
172 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 175 places, so it is 98% full.
What is attendance like at Riverside School?
Pupils were in school 87.9% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 40% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Riverside School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for autism, hearing impairment, moderate learning difficulties, multi-sensory impairment, other needs, physical disability, social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, visual impairment. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- White Hart Lane, Wood Green, London, N22 5QJ
- Telephone
- 020 8889 7814
- Website
- www.riverside.haringey.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Stephen Hehir
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Haringey
- Ward
- Woodside
- Constituency
- Southgate and Wood Green
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 102178 · LAESTAB 3097006 · UKPRN 10016611
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.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- 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.