Forest Gate Community School

Forest Gate Community School is a highly effective school serving a disadvantaged community. Inspectors found exceptional practice in achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, and leadership and governance. Pupils achieve highly across year groups and subjects, and disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND do particularly well, outperforming national comparators. Attendance is high, persistent absence is low, and behaviour is exemplary, with pupils feeling safe and supported. The school is part of the Community Schools Trust. Personal development and wellbeing and inclusion are graded strong standard, with pupils benefiting from a broad, inclusive programme, strong careers guidance, enrichment and pastoral support. Leaders and governors are strategic and improvement-focused, and staff development is a notable strength. Safeguarding standards are met. The main next step is to continue refining inclusion across all aspects of the school's work, including making support even more precise for a few pupils. Overall, this is an exceptional school with no serious weaknesses identified. The report highlights sustained excellence, strong outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, and a culture in which pupils are known, valued and prepared well for their next steps. The only development point is to sharpen inclusion practice further so that provision is consistently as strong as the school's other exceptional areas.

Strengths

• Pupils achieve highly across all year groups, subjects and pupil groups, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Disadvantaged pupils consistently achieve more highly than non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Attendance is consistently high, with persistent absence significantly below national figures.
• Pupils' behaviour is exemplary, and behaviour is taught as a curriculum.
• The curriculum is thoughtfully constructed, highly responsive, and underpinned by effective teaching.
• Teaching uses strong routines, clear explanations, purposeful questioning, retrieval and precise checks for understanding.
• Staff professional development is a key strength, building collaboration, expertise and leadership capacity.
• Leaders are highly strategic, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement.
• Governors and trustees provide clear challenge, support and strategic oversight.
• Personal development, wellbeing, careers guidance and enrichment provision are comprehensive and inclusive.
• Pupils feel safe, valued and included, and bullying and discriminatory behaviour are rare.
• Pupils develop strong oracy, citizenship, social responsibility and readiness for next steps.
• Inclusion support removes barriers for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND.
• Safeguarding standards are met.

Areas for Improvement

• Inclusion is strong rather than exceptional; leaders should continue to refine and sharpen approaches across all aspects of the school's work.
• There are a few occasions where pupils would benefit from even more precise support to maximise their learning and engagement.

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 Forest Gate Community School attended 95.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 10.5% 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, 8.5% of pupils at Forest Gate Community School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 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 Forest Gate Community School had 17.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 41.7% 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, 6.8% of pupils at Forest Gate Community School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.1% 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 2024–25 Forest Gate Community School received £9,937 and spent £9,101 for each of its 1,347 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,409,000 (£1,046 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Community Schools Trust, income was £11,022 and spending £10,890 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). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Newham · Newham local authority: places and applications

Forest Gate Community School is part of Community Schools Trust, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Cumberland Community School London
• The Excelsior Academy London
• Haggerston School London
• Waterside Academy London
• Park Academy South Ockendon
• University Technical College Norfolk Norwich

What is Forest Gate Community School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Forest Gate Community School is Strong standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Forest Gate Community School last inspected by Ofsted?

Forest Gate Community School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Forest Gate Community School have?

Forest Gate Community School has 1,343 pupils on roll.

What age range does Forest Gate Community School cover?

Forest Gate Community School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Forest Gate Community School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 59.0, and 71% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Forest Gate Community School?

Forest Gate Community School is at Forest Lane, London, E7 9BB.