Haberdashers' Borough Academy

Free schools·Secondary school London, Southwark·SE1 0EX
Composite score
59.7
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#1,220
National rank
#292
In London
#13
In Southwark
Top 39%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
47.8
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
43%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
67%
% EBacc grade 5+
25%
EBacc average points score
4.65

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Outstanding
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
95%
135 first choices, 180 places
First choices per place
0.75
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
517
any preference, for 180 places
Applications from another council area
14%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.22
00.511.5
1 per place
1.1120220.7720230.6820240.9720250.752026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

We do not have a checked cut-off distance for Haberdashers' Borough Academy yet. Southwark does publish allocation figures and we are working through them council by council — we only show a distance once we have found it in the council’s own document.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
917
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
56.9%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
30.8%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
17.2%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.9%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
8.2%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
25.7%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
14.5
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£9,267
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

Nearby secondary schools

Location

School overview

Haberdashers' Borough Academy is a secondary school serving London, Southwark, classified by the DfE as a free school. It has 917 pupils aged 11 to 18 on roll. At its most recent graded inspection, Ofsted rated Haberdashers' Borough Academy 'Good'. The school's average Attainment 8 score in the latest GCSE results was 47.8 — broadly in line with the national average (national average: 46). Its Attainment 8 score has fallen by 0.8 points compared with the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the top 39% of secondary schools nationally.

43% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, in line with the national average of about 45%. 67% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. 95% of the families who made Haberdashers' Borough Academy their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, even though the school made at least as many offers as it had first choices - the rest withdrew, moved or fell outside a priority group. Overall pupil absence was 8.2%. There are about 14.5 pupils per teacher. The school serves a community with above-average levels of disadvantage: about 57% of pupils have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years, compared with roughly 24% nationally — useful context when reading the results above. Given the recent dip in results, it may be worth asking the school what is behind the change and what is being done in response. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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