The Greenwell Academy
The Greenwell Academy is a special free school in Harlow for boys and girls aged 7 to 16. It has 19 pupils and room for 64. About 26 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, about the same as most schools in England. Ofsted visited in April 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
Commonside Road, Harlow, CM18 7EZ01279 746845Ms Lucy Goodman headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 28 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.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
1 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. Fewer than eleven pupils sat the exams, so the figures could identify individual children.
Year 6 results (SATs), summer 2025
4 children took the tests. Here is how they did against every state primary in England. With a year group this small, a couple of children can move the percentages a long way.
All Year 6 measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils tested | 4 | 1 | – | – |
There are no progress figures for 2025. That year group missed their Year 2 tests during Covid, so there was no starting point to measure from. Progress figures come back with the December 2026 results. Tests were cancelled altogether in 2020 and 2021.
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 Essex 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: emotional and mental health (10), Autistic spectrum disorder (9).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 19 | 16 | 11 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 26% | 31% | 36% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 36% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 64% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 79.6% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 20.4% | 18.7% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 12.6% | 7.0% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 7.9% | 11.7% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 55.6% | 50.0% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 100.0 | 127.3 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beckmead Moundwood Academy | Free schools alternative provision | 80 m | 65 | No overall grade 2024 | – | Compare |
| Latton Green Primary Academy | Academy | 320 m | 199 | Good 2023 | 75 | Compare |
| Longwood Primary Academy | Academy | 670 m | 423 | Good 2023 | 68 | Compare |
| Pear Tree Mead Academy | Academy | 830 m | 460 | Good 2023 | 58 | Compare |
| William Martin Church of England Infant and Nursery School | Academy | 850 m | 185 | Good 2022 | 35 | Compare |
| St James Church of England Primary School | Academy | 0.6 miles | 211 | Good 2023 | 49 | Compare |
| Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow | Academy | 0.6 miles | 978 | Requires improvement 2024 | 4 | Compare |
| Abbotsweld Primary Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 307 | Good 2023 | 63 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Greenwell Academy a good school?
The Greenwell Academy doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted's report card from April 2026 rated its teaching as as expected.
What is The Greenwell Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 28 April 2026 it rated teaching as as expected, achievement as as expected, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as as expected.
How many pupils does The Greenwell Academy have?
19 pupils aged 7 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 64 places, so it is 30% full.
What is attendance like at The Greenwell Academy?
Pupils were in school 79.6% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 56% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Commonside Road, Harlow, CM18 7EZ
- Telephone
- 01279 746845
- Headteacher
- Ms Lucy Goodman
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 7-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- The Beckmead Trust (12 schools)
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward
- Latton Bush & Stewards
- Constituency
- Harlow
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2023 (academy free school)
- URN
- 149745 · LAESTAB 8817007 · UKPRN 10093072
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.
- Year 6 results: DfE key stage 2 tables, 2024/25.
- 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.
- 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.