SF School Facts UK

Girls secondary school in London, Islington

Highbury Fields School

Highbury Hill, London, N5 1AR

Ofsted Outstanding · 2022 Sixth form Girls
School website 02072881888

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 28 September 2022

Remained Outstanding at its last ungraded inspection, on 28 September 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

57.4 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

62% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

81% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

5.3 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

49% 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

0.43confidence interval 0.17 to 0.68

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as 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
40

England average 32.3

A level students
19

Pupils

Pupils on roll
733
Places
1050
How full
70% full — 733 of 1050 places taken, so places are likely to be available
Girls / boys
730 / 3
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
22%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
54%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
52%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
17%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
60%
No sustained destination
4%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
134

After sixth form

Went to university
61%

England 50%

In education, work or training
76%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
51

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

20% 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
85%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
40

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 013C, 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
67%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
12%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
42%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
30%

England 17%

Households with no car
58%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
27%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Community school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Girls
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Tim Fox
Local authority
Islington
Ward
Highbury
Constituency
Islington North
URN
100455

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
City of London Academy Highbury GroveAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 45.4 0.3 mi
St Mary Magdalene AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2023 59.3 0.5 mi
North Bridge House Senior Canonbury SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.6 mi
St Paul's Waldorf SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.7 mi
Stoke Newington School and Sixth FormCommunity school Good 2022 48.4 0.8 mi
City of London Academy IslingtonAcademy sponsor led No grade 40.8 1.2 mi
Arts and Media School IslingtonFoundation school Good 2023 38.3 1.2 mi
Lift Beacon HighAcademy converter Good 2022 1.2 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
Leeds City AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 38.3
Kensington Aldridge AcademyAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2024 54
Conisborough CollegeAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2022 37.6
The Elms AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 52.8
E-ACT North Birmingham AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 43.9
The Gainsborough AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2024 38
Harris Invictus Academy CroydonFree schools Outstanding 2023 45
Dean Trust WiganAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 33.1

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.