Shaftesbury High School
Shaftesbury High School is a council special school in Harrow for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 165 pupils and room for 175. About 44 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was inspected 2025, no overall grade.
Headstone Lane, Harrow, HA3 6LE020 8428 2482shaftesbury.harrow.sch.ukMr Sage Ball headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 20 May 2025, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Not judged Between September 2024 and November 2025, Ofsted graded each area but stopped giving one overall word.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2019 | Ungraded | School remains Outstanding (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
28 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 | Harrow | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 28 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 31 | 32 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | – | – | – | – | 0.3 | 0.4 | 51.4 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | – | – | – | -1.72 | -1.62 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 54% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 70% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | – | – | – | – | 0.03 | 0.00 | 4.75 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% | 66% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | – | – | – | – | 0.7 | 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 | – | – | – | – | 0.4 | 0.5 | – | – |
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 Harrow 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 Harrow with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Autistic spectrum disorder (77), Moderate learning difficulty (36), language and communications needs (21), Other difficulty or disability (6), Physical disability (6), Severe learning difficulty (5).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 165 | 171 | 165 | 172 | 173 | 172 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 44% | 44% | 45% | 42% | 41% | 39% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 50% | 49% | 53% | 54% | 56% | 59% |
| 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 86.2% 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 | 13.8% | 12.2% | 11.1% | 11.0% | 6.0% | 8.0% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 12.2% | 10.9% | 9.8% | 10.8% | 5.1% | 5.2% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 0.2% | 1.0% | 2.8% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 37.6% | 31.3% | 27.8% | 34.3% | 19.3% | 17.8% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 25.7 | 14.6 | 32.0 | 4.1 | 0.0 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 26 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 | 92% | 92% | 100% | 96% |
| Education | 92% | 92% | 100% | 96% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 4% | 8% | 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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Teresa's Catholic Primary School and Nursery | Roman Catholic | 60 m | 428 | Good 2023 | 72 | Compare |
| Hatch End High School | Academy | 150 m | 1,226 | Good 2024 | 48 | Compare |
| Cedars Manor School | Council | 270 m | 339 | No overall grade 2025 | 8 | Compare |
| Kingsley High School | Council | 420 m | 134 | Outstanding 2024 | – | Compare |
| Pinner Park Primary School | Council | 900 m | 858 | Good 2024 | 83 | Compare |
| Harrow Collegiate | Sixth form centres | 940 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Salvatorian Roman Catholic College | Academy | 0.8 miles | 802 | Good 2022 | 74 | Compare |
| Whitefriars School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,419 | Good 2024 | 40 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Shaftesbury High School a good school?
Shaftesbury High School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it not judged at its last inspection in May 2025.
What is Shaftesbury High School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Shaftesbury High School not judged at its last full inspection on 20 May 2025.
How many pupils does Shaftesbury High School have?
165 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 175 places, so it is 94% full.
What is attendance like at Shaftesbury High School?
Pupils were in school 86.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 38% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does Shaftesbury High 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.
Does Shaftesbury High School 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
- Headstone Lane, Harrow, HA3 6LE
- Telephone
- 020 8428 2482
- Website
- www.shaftesbury.harrow.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Sage Ball
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Harrow
- Ward
- Harrow Weald
- Constituency
- Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 102260 · LAESTAB 3107002 · UKPRN 10017495
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.