St Mary Magdalene Academy

Islington · N7 8PG

General information All-through School · 4-19 years Who goes here 1561 pupils, 38.1% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted: Outstanding

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 16.9% on SEN support Behaviour 6.9% absence rate Staff 14% turnover Financials £8,846 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

We haven't asked this school for its behaviour and staffing figures yet. Sign up to tell us you'd like them, and we'll email you when they arrive.

Notify me

Your email address

Leave this empty

We'll email you a link to confirm first. Your address is only used for news about this school, and every email has a link to stop them. Privacy

St Mary Magdalene Academy

General Information

Address: Liverpool Road, Islington, London, N7 8PG – View on map
Phone: 02076970123
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr John Reardon
Age range: 4-19 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 434 families put it first for 171 places – 25 for every 10 places. 37% of them were offered a place. 16 of the 171 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 24 · 2024 23 · 2025 25 · 2026 25
Demand for places (Reception, September 2026): 69 families put it first for 30 places – 23 for every 10 places. 42% of them were offered a place. No places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 14 · 2024 10 · 2025 14 · 2026 23
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: Church of England
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1561 pupils out of 1360 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 465
% eligible for free school meals: 38.1%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (similar to the Islington average)
English as an additional language: 18% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 14% a year (Islington 20.8%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 25% moved to another school, 75% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Islington: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 9 (1.0 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 24 (2.6 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 3 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Islington, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 6.9%
Persistently absent pupils: 17.3%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 16.9%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 4.7%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Autistic spectrum disorder: 67 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 65 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 52 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 35 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 26 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 46 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 11 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 5 pupils
Physical disability: 4 pupils
Hearing impairment: 2 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

Be the first to review — win £100 of books for your school Every honest review enters you into our prize draw

Behaviour

–

Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

–

Wraparound CareWraparound Care (parent rating)How parents rate the school's breakfast and after-school clubs - availability, cost and quality. Only asked for infant, junior and primary schools, where it matters most for working parents.

–

Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Outstanding 2023 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

SecondaryGCSE results, Year 11

Attainment 8 score: 59.3
Compared with the area: 9.9 points above the Islington average (49.4)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well above (+16.1 points against an expected 43.2)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 82% (Islington 69%, England 65%) Improving
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolIslington averageEngland↗ Improving Up 4.4 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 9.9 points above the Islington average (49.4).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

1st of 8 all-through schools in Islington for Attainment 8

#1St Mary Magdalene Academy59.3
#2Highbury Fields School57.4
#3Central Foundation Boys' School55.2

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1St Mary Magdalene Academy59.3
#2Highbury Fields School57.4
#3Central Foundation Boys' School55.2
#4Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School52.7
#5City of London Academy Highbury Grove45.4
#6City of London Academy Islington40.8
#7City of London Academy, Highgate Hill40.3
#8Arts and Media School Islington38.3

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 95.0%
Went into further education: 92.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Language
English Literature
Geography
Science Double Award
History
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Physics (General)
Sociology
Spanish
D & T
Art & Design
Chinese
German
French Language
Religious Studies
Speech & Drama
Music Studies (General)
Sports Studies
Turkish
Italian
Russian
Astronomy
Japanese Language
Arabic
Polish

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

PrimaryYear 6 SATs results

Year 6 SATs results

Met the expected standard in reading, writing & maths: 77% (England 62%)
Reached the higher standard: 30% (England 8%)
Compared with the area: 8 percentage points above the Islington average (69%)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well above (3-year average 82% against an expected 55%)
3-year average (expected standard): 82%
Expected standard by subject: Reading 80% · Writing 77% · Maths 77% · Grammar, punctuation & spelling 77%
Average test scores: reading 108, maths 107
Based on: 30 Year 6 pupils, 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's SATs results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

SATs results over time

This schoolIslington averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2022/23 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 8 percentage points above the Islington average (69%).

Year 6 SATs: 14th of 40 junior and primary schools in the area

=12Ambler Primary School and Children's Centre78%
=12Canonbury Primary School78%
#14St Mary Magdalene Academy77%
#15St Mark's CofE Primary School75%
=16Rotherfield Primary School74%

Click to see the full ranking

Year 6 SATs ranking

Junior and primary schools in this area, ranked by the % of Year 6 pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (official DfE results, 2024/25). Schools with the same result share a place (shown as =). In small schools one or two children can move a school several places, so treat close positions as roughly equal.

Rank School Score

#1Winton Primary School92%
=2Gillespie Primary School89%
=2Hugh Myddelton Primary School89%
=2St Joseph's Catholic Primary School89%
=5St Peter and St Paul Catholic Primary School88%
=5Thornhill Primary School88%
#7Drayton Park Primary School85%
#8Tufnell Park Primary School84%
#9William Tyndale Primary School83%
#10City of London Primary Academy, Islington80%
#11Duncombe Primary School79%
=12Ambler Primary School and Children's Centre78%
=12Canonbury Primary School78%
#14St Mary Magdalene Academy77%
#15St Mark's CofE Primary School75%
=16Rotherfield Primary School74%
=16Yerbury Primary School74%
#18Newington Green Primary School72%
#19St Joan of Arc RC Primary School71%
#20Grafton Primary School70%
#21Vittoria Primary School68%
#22Hanover Primary School67%
#23Laycock Primary School64%
#24Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School63%
=25Pakeman Primary School62%
=25St John's Highbury Vale CofE Primary School62%
=27Ashmount Primary School61%
=27Hargrave Park School61%
=27Moreland Primary School61%
#30St Luke's CofE Primary School59%
#31St John's Upper Holloway CofE Primary School58%
#32St Andrew's (Barnsbury) CofE Primary School57%
#33St Mary's CofE Primary School53%
#34The New North Academy47%
#35Whitehall Park School46%
#36Robert Blair School and Children's Centre44%
#37Prior Weston Primary School and Children's Centre43%
#38Christ The King Catholic Primary School39%
#39St John Evangelist Catholic Primary School35%
#40Hungerford School28%

View full Ofsted inspection report

3rd of 8 all-through schools in Islington for Ofsted rating

#1City of London Academy IslingtonOutstanding
#2Highbury Fields SchoolOutstanding
#3St Mary Magdalene AcademyOutstanding
#4Arts and Media School IslingtonGood
#5City of London Academy Highbury GroveGood

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1City of London Academy IslingtonOutstanding
#2Highbury Fields SchoolOutstanding
#3St Mary Magdalene AcademyOutstanding
#4Arts and Media School IslingtonGood
#5City of London Academy Highbury GroveGood
#6City of London Academy, Highgate HillGood
#7Lift Beacon HighGood
#8St Aloysius' CollegeGood

Financials

Spending per pupil: £8,846 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

8th of 8 all-through schools in Islington for spending per pupil

#6Central Foundation Boys' School£10,384
#7City of London Academy Islington£9,957
#8St Mary Magdalene Academy£8,846

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Arts and Media School Islington£12,737
#2City of London Academy Highbury Grove£12,005
#3Highbury Fields School£11,530
#4Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School£11,370
#5City of London Academy, Highgate Hill£11,066
#6Central Foundation Boys' School£10,384
#7City of London Academy Islington£9,957
#8St Mary Magdalene Academy£8,846

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

Have you rated St Mary Magdalene Academy yet? Your experience helps other parents.

Rate this school

General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Islington: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Year 6 SATs ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered