Haberdashers' Hatcham Free School

About Haberdashers' Hatcham Free School

Haberdashers' Hatcham Free School in Lewisham is a state primary that has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted in its most recent inspection, a grade it has held across both its 2015 and 2025 inspections. The 2025 inspection gave top marks across the board — Outstanding for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management. But the real story is in the exam data. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 results, 90 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. That is a huge 26 percentage points above the Lewisham local authority average of 64 per cent. The school also ranks first out of 59 primary schools in the borough on this measure, placing it in the top five per cent nationally. Average scores in reading and maths both sit at 110, comfortably above the national benchmark of 100, and 34 per cent of pupils hit the higher standard across all three subjects.

Digging deeper into the results, the school's strength in maths is particularly striking. 95 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in maths, and 59 per cent achieved the higher standard. In reading, 91 per cent reached the expected level and 55 per cent the higher level, while in writing 93 per cent met the expected standard and 43 per cent the higher standard. These figures put the school well ahead of most of its Lewisham peers — the nearest rival, St Augustine's Catholic Primary School and Nursery, has a ranking score of 86 compared to Hatcham's 90. The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, there were 253 applications for 60 places, a ratio of 4.22 applicants per place, with 71 first-preference applications for those 60 spots. Parent satisfaction is extremely high, with 98 per cent of the 156 respondents to the Ofsted Parent View survey saying they would recommend the school.

The school is led by headteacher Emily Gyimah and serves 419 pupils, just one short of its capacity of 420. It is a non-religious, mixed primary for ages 4 to 11 with no nursery or sixth form provision. Facilities include a library, sensory room, outdoor playground, playing fields, art studios and an ICT suite. Sports on offer include cricket, netball, swimming, rounders, dance and football, and there are clubs for drama, choir and art. The school has a range of SEND provisions covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, speech, language and communication needs, social, emotional and mental health support, physical disability and autistic spectrum disorder. Only 7.2 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the national average. For families in Lewisham seeking a high-performing, oversubscribed primary with a strong academic record and excellent Ofsted outcomes, this school is clearly a top contender, though securing a place will require a first-preference application.

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