The City Academy, Hackney

About The City Academy, Hackney

The City Academy, Hackney sits within a competitive secondary landscape in Hackney, where it ranks 8th out of 16 schools of its type in the local authority, placing it right in the middle of the pack. The top-performing peers in the borough are Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy, Mossbourne Community Academy, and Waterside Academy, all of which post higher Progress 8 scores. The nearest school rated Outstanding by Ofsted is Clapton Girls' Academy, just 0.7 km away. The City Academy itself was graded Good overall in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, a downgrade from the Outstanding rating it held in its previous inspection in 2012. The inspection report noted that the school's sixth form provision remains Outstanding, while quality of education, personal development, and behaviour and attitudes were all rated Good. With 1,152 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,170, the school is nearly full and clearly a popular choice in the area.

Academically, the school performs well above the national average. Its Progress 8 score of 0.56 is well above average, and it exceeds the Hackney local authority average of 0.52. The school's Attainment 8 score sits at 53.1, and 80.4% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, with 58.7% achieving a grade 5 or above. The English Progress 8 score is particularly strong at 0.85, while maths progress is lower at 0.41. The EBacc average point score is 4.87, and 58.2% of pupils entered the EBacc, with 43.5% achieving a grade 4 or above across the suite. In the sixth form, the school's value added score is 0.12, which is rated as average, and pupils achieved an average of 35.11 points per entry, equivalent to a B- grade. The best three A-levels averaged a C+ grade, and 8.9% of pupils achieved AAB or higher.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 2025/26 entry, it received 759 applications for 170 places, an oversubscription ratio of 4.46, with 131 offers made to first-preference applicants out of 169 first-preference applications. Facilities include a swimming pool, astro turf, sports hall, music rooms, a chapel, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports offered range from martial arts and rowing to gymnastics and dance, while clubs include coding, debate, Young Enterprise, and a newspaper club. The school has a broad range of SEND provisions, covering autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language communication needs, social emotional and mental health needs, and specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. This is a school that suits families looking for a large, diverse secondary with strong academic progress, particularly in English, and a well-regarded sixth form, set in a borough with several higher-performing alternatives nearby.

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