Willowfield School

Willowfield School demonstrates a strong commitment to providing quality education, with pupils making steady progress in their learning and achieving GCSE results at or above national averages. The school has a supportive and inclusive culture that helps students, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and disadvantaged pupils, to thrive. With strong leadership and effective safeguarding practices, the school prepares its students well for post-16 education or the workforce. While there are some areas for improvement, notably in raising expectations for student articulation of learning and maintaining consistently high work quality across all subjects, the overall performance is commendable.

Strengths

• Pupils make steady progress from their starting points in most subjects.
• GCSE results are consistently at least in line with national averages.
• Disadvantaged pupils often achieve better than similar pupils nationally.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, meeting national requirements.
• Leaders have a firm understanding of curriculum quality and continue to drive improvement.
• Strong support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils struggle to explain their learning clearly in a few subjects.
• The quality of work in some subjects does not consistently match robust standards.
• Persistent absence rates are above average, although improving.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Willowfield School attended 91.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 28.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 4.9% of pupils at Willowfield School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Willowfield School had 17.6 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.4% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 21.2% of pupils at Willowfield School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Willowfield School received £9,197 and spent £8,859 for each of its 1,035 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,572,000 (£1,519 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Waltham Forest · Waltham Forest local authority: places and applications

What is Willowfield School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Willowfield School is Expected standard, from an inspection in April 2026.

When was Willowfield School last inspected by Ofsted?

Willowfield School was last inspected in April 2026.

How many pupils does Willowfield School have?

Willowfield School has 1,035 pupils on roll.

What age range does Willowfield School cover?

Willowfield School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Willowfield School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 43.5, and 42% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Willowfield School?

Willowfield School is at 209 Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow, London, E17 6ND.