Waterside Academy
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Waterside Academy is a free school in London for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 351 pupils and room for 500. About 66 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 79 out of 100. That puts it above schools like it, ahead of 98% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted visited in January 2026 and gave it a report card, which is below.
317-319 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4DL020 3870 7500watersidecst.orgMs Amy Brown headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted visited on 27 January 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 9 February 2022 | S5 Inspection | Good |
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
78 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† | Hackney | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 78 | 93 | 90 | 76 | 88 | 89 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 44.6 | 48.2 | 46.0 | 47.2 | 41.7 | 46.7 | 50.7 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | +1.04 | +0.71 | -0.19 | -0.19 | +0.15 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 41% | 60% | 44% | 53% | 36% | 40% | 50% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 62% | 68% | 60% | 70% | 57% | 57% | 71% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 4.10 | 4.46 | 4.28 | 4.45 | 3.95 | 4.43 | 4.59 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 39% | 57% | 69% | 76% | 84% | 82% | 58% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 44.3 | 44.8 | 46.3 | 46.4 | 43.2 | 38.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 45.1 | 54.0 | 45.5 | 48.7 | 40.1 | 52.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 40.9 | 33.2 | 35.2 | 24.2 | 23.0 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | – | 72.6 | 63.8 | 60.8 | 59.8 | – | – |
† These results are for Hackney New School, the school this one replaced in November 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Subjects
Results came out for 13 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.
Strongest subjects
Subjects that did worse than the England average: Art and Design (4% here, 58% across England), Drama (21% here, 60% across England), French (40% here, 60% across England), English Language (40% here, 54% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religious Studies | 79 | 24% | 57% | 66% | 60% | 1,104 of 1,825 |
| Mathematics | 78 | 17% | 46% | 67% | 53% | 1,983 of 3,211 |
| English Literature | 78 | 24% | 63% | 71% | 58% | 1,059 of 3,202 |
| English Language | 78 | 12% | 40% | 55% | 54% | 2,579 of 3,210 |
| Combined Science | 78 | 23% | 40% | 55% | 36% | 1,110 of 3,084 |
| Art and Design | 27 | 0% | 4% | 11% | 58% | 2,809 of 2,818 |
| Spanish | 25 | 36% | 56% | 64% | 54% | 942 of 1,941 |
| French | 25 | 12% | 40% | 64% | 60% | 1,630 of 1,974 |
| Drama | 24 | 4% | 21% | 29% | 60% | 807 of 844 |
| Computer Science | 23 | 17% | 44% | 61% | 56% | 1,249 of 1,861 |
| Other Modern Languages | 17 | 35% | 47% | 47% | 49% | – |
| Geography | 17 | 71% | 100% | 100% | 51% | – |
| History | 16 | 38% | 69% | 69% | 52% | – |
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.
228 places were empty (38% of the total), so almost everyone who applies gets in. Pupil numbers have fallen by 5% 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 (52 offers for 100 places).
What parents say
From Ofsted's Parent View survey: 19 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: emotional and mental health (17), Other difficulty or disability (9), language and communications needs (9), Autistic spectrum disorder (5), Specific learning difficulty (4), Moderate learning difficulty (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 351 | 374 | 401 | 392 | 379 | 354 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 66% | 60% | 57% | 59% | 52% | 56% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 41% | 40% | 42% | 46% | 50% | 52% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 6% | 5% | 8% | 7% | 11% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 6% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 3% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.2% 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 | 7.8% | 7.2% | 7.2% | 9.6% | 7.1% | 9.2% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 2.0% | 2.2% | 0.8% | 2.0% | 1.7% | 2.8% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 5.8% | 5.0% | 6.4% | 7.6% | 5.4% | 6.4% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 25.8% | 23.2% | 21.4% | 33.3% | 20.7% | 28.9% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 14.4 | 18.5 | 11.0 | 6.1 | 29.7 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 0 | – | – |
† These attendance figures are for Hackney New School, the school this one replaced in November 2019. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 90 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 73%, compared with 89% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 79% | 95% | 93% |
| Education | 78% | 93% | 93% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 8% | 4% | 3% |
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 Bridge Academy | Academy | 440 m | 1,070 | Good 2023 | 84 | Compare |
| Haggerston School | Academy | 770 m | 939 | Good 2022 | 71 | Compare |
| City of London Academy, Shoreditch Park | Free school | 940 m | 914 | No overall grade 2025 | 89 | Compare |
| Mulberry Academy Shoreditch | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,457 | Good 2022 | 50 | Compare |
| City of London Academy Islington | Academy | 0.9 miles | 852 | Not inspected | 19 | Compare |
| Oaklands School | Council | 0.9 miles | 902 | Report card 2026 | 79 | Compare |
| The Excelsior Academy | Academy | 0.9 miles | 983 | Good 2024 | 64 | Compare |
| Central Foundation Boys' School | Voluntary | 1.0 miles | 1,152 | No overall grade 2025 | 91 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Waterside 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.
No school with a similar mix of pupils within 25 km scores clearly higher.
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 79 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 79% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 72 to 85. 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 | -0.08 | 2025, 2024 and 2023 results; 78 pupils |
| Ofsted inspection | 20% | above | +0.16 | Ofsted report card, 0.6 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 20% | above | +0.19 | DfE progress measure; 78 pupils |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | above | +0.05 | results and attendance rising year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | 0.00 | 2024/25; 418 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 10% | well above | +0.30 | Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 78 pupils |
| What pupils do next | 5% | well below | -0.09 | 90 pupils |
| What parents say | 5% | in line | +0.01 | Ofsted's Parent View survey, allowing for how many parents replied; 19 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 Waterside Academy a good school?
Yes, going by the figures. Waterside Academy scores 79 out of 100. That is above schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 98% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 72 to 85, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much.
What is Waterside Academy's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted no longer gives schools one overall grade. When it visited on 27 January 2026 it rated teaching as strong, achievement as strong, behaviour and attendance as strong, leadership as strong.
How good are Waterside Academy's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 41% 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 44.6, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about a grade ahead of children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Waterside Academy have?
351 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 500 places, so it is 70% full.
Is Waterside Academy oversubscribed?
Probably not. 228 places were empty in 2024/25 (38% of the total), so most families who apply get a place.
What is attendance like at Waterside Academy?
Pupils were in school 92.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 26% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
What do parents say about Waterside Academy?
79% of the 19 parents who answered Ofsted's Parent View survey would recommend it to other parents, and 79% say their child is happy there. Across England, 77% of parents would recommend their child's school.
How big are the classes at Waterside Academy?
The average class had 21.4 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 7% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- 317-319 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4DL
- Telephone
- 020 3870 7500
- Website
- www.watersidecst.org
- Headteacher
- Ms Amy Brown
- Type of school
- Free school (Free schools, free schools)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Community Schools Trust (6 schools)
- Local authority
- Hackney
- Ward
- Haggerston
- Constituency
- Hackney South and Shoreditch
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 November 2019 (fresh start)
- URN
- 147653 · LAESTAB 2044006 · UKPRN 10084846
- Formerly
- Hackney New School
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: Hackney council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2023, 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.