Waterside Academy

Hackney · E8 4DL

General information Secondary School · 11-16 years Who goes here 351 pupils, 65.7% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 6% on SEN support Behaviour 7.8% absence rate Staff Awaiting data Financials £11,728 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Waterside Academy

General Information

Address: 317-319 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4DL – View on map
Phone: 02038707500
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Ms Amy Brown
Age range: 11-16 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 18 families put it first for 46 places – 4 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 5 of the 46 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 3 · 2024 6 · 2025 7 · 2026 4
Intake: Mixed
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

351 pupils out of 500 places Plenty of room

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 230
% eligible for free school meals: 65.7%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (similar to the Hackney average)
English as an additional language: 41% (England 22%)

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 Hackney: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 31 (2.1 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 1
Suspensions for bullying: 60 (4.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 18 (1.2 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 Hackney, 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: 7.8%
Persistently absent pupils: 25.8%
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: 6.0%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 8.3%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 10 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 4 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 2 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 1 pupil
Autistic spectrum disorder: 1 pupil

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Social, emotional and mental health: 7 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 7 pupils
Other difficulty or disability: 5 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 4 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 3 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 –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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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.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card January 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Strong standard
Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
Achievement Strong standard
Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
Leadership and governance Strong standard

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 44.6
Compared with the area: 7.0 points below the Hackney average (51.6)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: Above (+4.6 points against an expected 40.0)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 62% (Hackney 71%, England 65%) Broadly steady
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 schoolHackney 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 7.0 points below the Hackney average (51.6).

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.

12th of 16 secondary schools in Hackney for Attainment 8

#10Skinners' Academy46.4
#11The Excelsior Academy44.7
#12Waterside Academy44.6
#13All Saints Catholic High School44.1
#14Cardinal Pole Catholic School42.9

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Mossbourne Community Academy65.1
#2Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy64.3
#3Clapton Girls' Academy59.4
#4Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School59.0
#5The Bridge Academy56.9
#6City of London Academy, Shoreditch Park54.3
#7Haggerston School52.7
#8The City Academy, Hackney49.1
#9Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form48.4
#10Skinners' Academy46.4
#11The Excelsior Academy44.7
#12Waterside Academy44.6
#13All Saints Catholic High School44.1
#14Cardinal Pole Catholic School42.9
#15Lubavitch House School (Senior Girls)39.9
#16The Urswick School - A Church of England Secondary School39.2

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 79.0%
Went into further education: 78.0%
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

Religious Studies
Science Double Award
English Language
English Literature
Maths (General)
Art & Design
French Language
Spanish
Speech & Drama
Computer Science
Geography
History
Turkish
Music Studies (General)
Portuguese
Arabic
Russian
Polish
Urdu

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.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £11,728 (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.

3rd of 16 secondary schools in Hackney for spending per pupil

#1The Urswick School - A Church of England Secondary School£13,592
#2All Saints Catholic High School£12,015
#3Waterside Academy£11,728
#4The Bridge Academy£11,361
#5Haggerston School£11,253

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

#1The Urswick School - A Church of England Secondary School£13,592
#2All Saints Catholic High School£12,015
#3Waterside Academy£11,728
#4The Bridge Academy£11,361
#5Haggerston School£11,253
#6City of London Academy, Shoreditch Park£11,206
#7Cardinal Pole Catholic School£11,023
#8The Excelsior Academy£10,872
#9Skinners' Academy£10,638
#10The City Academy, Hackney£10,620
#11Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School£10,137
#12Clapton Girls' Academy£9,991
#13Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form£9,873
#14Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy£9,455
#15Mossbourne Community Academy£9,389
#16Lubavitch House School (Senior Girls)£5,248

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

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General Information

Who goes here

Behaviour

Across Hackney: 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 ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered