Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls
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Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls is a free school in Thamesmead for girls aged 11 to 16. It has 1,120 pupils and room for 1,200. About 42 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. We give it 59 out of 100. That puts it in line with schools like it, ahead of 22% of the 50 schools most like it. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2023.
1 Birchdene Drive, Thamesmead, SE28 8RF020 8059 2800woolwichpolygirls.co.ukMs Lizaan Williams headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 10 January 2023, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
237 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 | Greenwich | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 237 | 236 | 0 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 47.5 | 52.6 | – | 48.7 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | +0.40 | – | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 45% | 62% | – | 49% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 68% | 79% | – | 67% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 4.07 | 4.55 | – | 4.41 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 24% | 23% | – | 52% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 49.1 | 49.5 | – | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 46.7 | 54.2 | – | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 30.2 | – | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | 66.8 | – | – | – |
Subjects
Results came out for 16 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: Drama (44% here, 60% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 236 | 23% | 61% | 78% | 54% | 942 of 3,210 |
| Mathematics | 234 | 14% | 47% | 70% | 53% | 1,892 of 3,211 |
| English Literature | 233 | 31% | 81% | 90% | 58% | 271 of 3,202 |
| Combined Science | 194 | 2% | 35% | 60% | 36% | 1,480 of 3,084 |
| History | 132 | 17% | 46% | 62% | 52% | 1,892 of 3,126 |
| Business | 79 | 24% | 54% | 67% | 51% | 702 of 1,806 |
| Art and Design | 77 | 20% | 68% | 88% | 58% | 984 of 2,818 |
| Geography | 70 | 23% | 56% | 71% | 51% | 1,034 of 3,116 |
| French | 56 | 43% | 79% | 91% | 60% | 457 of 1,974 |
| Social Studies | 50 | 32% | 72% | 84% | 54% | 175 of 1,043 |
| Food Preparation & Nutrition | 39 | 15% | 62% | 77% | 52% | 367 of 1,098 |
| Biology | 38 | 66% | 95% | 97% | 82% | 792 of 2,570 |
| Chemistry | 37 | 65% | 97% | 100% | 81% | 572 of 2,537 |
| Physics | 37 | 62% | 95% | 100% | 82% | 820 of 2,546 |
| Computer Science | 26 | 19% | 69% | 92% | 56% | 529 of 1,861 |
| Drama | 16 | 6% | 44% | 69% | 60% | – |
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. Every gap at this school is 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.
Fewer than one place in twenty is empty, so in most years more families apply than there are places. Living close by, or already having a child here, makes a real difference. Pupil numbers have grown by 66% since 2021/22, so places are getting harder to come by.
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 Greenwich council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
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: SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (84), language and communications needs (36), emotional and mental health (29), Specific learning difficulty (17), Autistic spectrum disorder (16), Moderate learning difficulty (12).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 1,120 | 1,183 | 1,157 | 943 | 714 | 472 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 42% | 38% | 34% | 31% | 26% | 23% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 18% | 19% | 22% | 25% | 25% | 24% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 12% | 11% | 8% | 9% | 11% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.4% 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 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 7.6% | 7.4% | 7.8% | 6.0% | 4.4% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.3% | 6.1% | 4.6% | 4.3% | 3.5% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.2% | 1.3% | 3.2% | 1.7% | 1.0% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 23.3% | 23.4% | 24.1% | 16.6% | 10.8% | 23.9% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 11.1 | 14.0 | 11.8 | 7.3 | 4.2 | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 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 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolwich Polytechnic School | Academy | 40 m | 1,565 | Good 2024 | 51 | Compare |
| St Paul's Academy | Academy | 0.7 miles | 1,066 | Requires improvement 2023 | 10 | Compare |
| Harris Garrard Academy | Academy | 1.2 miles | 1,505 | Report card 2026 | 83 | Compare |
| Riverside School | Free school | 1.3 miles | 1,550 | Outstanding 2022 | 94 | Compare |
| Plumstead Manor School | Council | 1.8 miles | 1,413 | Requires improvement 2023 | 4 | Compare |
| London Design and Engineering UTC | University technical college | 1.9 miles | 854 | Report card 2025 | 72 | Compare |
| Saint Mary Magdalene Church of England All Through School | Church of England | 2.2 miles | 1,624 | Good 2023 | 45 | Compare |
| Jo Richardson Community School | Council | 2.2 miles | 1,696 | Outstanding 2024 | 83 | Compare |
Compared with schools like it
Our score compares Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls with the 49 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 49 schools are dotted all over the country, so we don't list them. What matters is where this school sits among them.
Nearby schools with a similar mix of pupils that score higher
Of those 49 schools, these are within 25 km and score at least five points more than Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls, nearest first. A school with the same kind of pupils and a higher score is the fairest sign that it gets more out of them.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Angela's Ursuline School | Roman Catholic | 4.4 miles | 1,311 | Outstanding 2022 | 83 | Compare |
| Eltham Hill School | Council | 4.5 miles | 1,350 | Good 2024 | 69 | Compare |
| Chislehurst School for Girls | Academy | 5.9 miles | 1,227 | Good 2023 | 70 | Compare |
| Central Foundation Girls' School | Voluntary | 6.2 miles | 1,526 | Report card 2026 | 79 | Compare |
| The Frances Bardsley Academy for Girls | Academy | 6.2 miles | 1,381 | No overall grade 2024 | 80 | Compare |
| Bullers Wood School | Academy | 7.0 miles | 1,555 | Good 2024 | 78 | Compare |
| Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich | Academy | 7.7 miles | 809 | Outstanding 2023 | 86 | Compare |
| Harris Academy Bermondsey | Academy | 7.8 miles | 781 | No overall grade 2025 | 91 | Compare |
How the score was worked out
The score is out of 100. A 59 means that once everything below is added up, this school comes out ahead of 59% of secondary schools in England. Results bounce around from year to year, especially in small schools, so we also show a likely range: 48 to 68. 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% | in line | +0.07 | 2025 and 2024 results; 237 pupils |
| Ofsted inspection | 18% (normally 20%, cut because the inspection is old) | in line | +0.02 | Ofsted grade, 3.7 years old |
| Progress pupils make | 20% | above | +0.18 | DfE progress measure; 237 pupils |
| Direction of travel over five years | 10% | well below | -0.20 | results and attendance falling year on year |
| Attendance and behaviour | 10% | in line | +0.03 | 2024/25; 1,243 pupils |
| Results, allowing for the mix of pupils | 10% | in line | +0.02 | Attainment relative to schools with a similar intake; 237 pupils |
| What pupils do next | 0% | no data | – | |
| What parents say | 0% | no data | – |
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 Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls a good school?
It is about average. Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls scores 59 out of 100. That is in line with schools that take in a similar mix of pupils, and ahead of 22% of the 50 schools most like it in England. The score could fairly be anywhere from 48 to 68, so a few points either way between schools doesn't mean much. Its results have been slipping over the last five years.
What is Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls good at its last full inspection on 10 January 2023.
How good are Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 45% 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 47.5, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about half a grade ahead of children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls have?
1,120 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,200 places, so it is 93% full. It is a girls' school.
Is Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls oversubscribed?
Often. Fewer than one place in twenty was empty in 2024/25, so popular year groups fill up.
What is attendance like at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls?
Pupils were in school 92.4% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 23% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls?
The average class had 22.9 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 8% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does Woolwich Polytechnic School for Girls have a sixth form?
No. Pupils leave after Year 11 for a sixth form elsewhere, a college or an apprenticeship.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- 1 Birchdene Drive, Thamesmead, SE28 8RF
- Telephone
- 020 8059 2800
- Website
- www.woolwichpolygirls.co.uk
- Headteacher
- Ms Lizaan Williams
- Type of school
- Free school (Free schools, free schools)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Girls
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- PolyMAT (3 schools)
- Local authority
- Greenwich
- Ward
- Thamesmead Moorings
- Constituency
- Erith and Thamesmead
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 2 September 2019
- URN
- 143686 · LAESTAB 2034005 · UKPRN 10083777
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.
- 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.