SF School Facts UK

Boys secondary school in London, Islington

Central Foundation Boys' School

Cowper Street, City Road, London, EC2A 4SH

Sixth form Boys Full
School website 02072533741

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 11 March 2025.

Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

55.2 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

69% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

82% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

59% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.56confidence interval 0.34 to 0.78

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
B-
Average points per entry
37.7

England average 32.3

A level students
111

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1152
Places
1050
How full
Full — 1152 pupils against 1050 places
Girls / boys
85 / 1067
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
19%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
47%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
27%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
25%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
98%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
94%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
63%
No sustained destination
2%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
164

After sixth form

Went to university
63%

England 50%

In education, work or training
83%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
101

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

24% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
73%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
86

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Islington 023D, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
53%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
11%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
20%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
47%

England 17%

Households with no car
80%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
34%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Voluntary aided school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Boys
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Jamie Brownhill
Local authority
Islington
Ward
Bunhill
Constituency
Islington South and Finsbury
URN
100458

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
City of London School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 0.6 mi
OMG EducationOther independent school No grade 0.7 mi
Mulberry Academy ShoreditchAcademy converter Good 2022 45 0.7 mi
Haggerston SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 52.7 0.8 mi
The Complete WorksOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
The Bridge AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 56.9 0.9 mi
City of London Academy IslingtonAcademy sponsor led No grade 40.8 0.9 mi
David Game CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Airedale AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 33.8
Ark Elvin AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2023 45.9
Folkestone AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 33.7
Havelock AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 40.8
Castle View Enterprise AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2023 41.9
Bacon's CollegeAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 49.4
King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls' AcademyAcademy converter No grade 48
NCEA Duke's Secondary SchoolAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 32

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.