The Garden School
Wordsworth Road, London, N16 8BZ
- Phase
- Special schools
- School type
- Community special school
- Ages
- 4 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Executive Principal
- Mr Ray Lawrence
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Hackney North and Stoke Newington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 200
- Pupils on roll
- 204
- URN
- 100311
- Local authority
- Hackney
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02072548096
About this school
The Garden School is a community special school in London. It teaches children aged 4 to 18 and has 204 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 12 | 17 | 12 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in reading | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in maths | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Average scaled score in reading | - | - | - |
| Average scaled score in maths | - | - | - |
| Reading progress | -5.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -5.20 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -6.40 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| Attainment 8 score | - | - | - |
| Progress 8 score | - | - | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | - | - | - |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | - | - | - |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | - | - | - |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The Garden School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Hackney average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 0% | 68.3% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 0% | 71.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 0% | 72.5% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 182 |
| 2023/24 | 193 |
| 2024/25 | 199 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 60.57%
- English as an additional language
- 37.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.23%
- Persistent absence
- 23.49%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Children's House School0.3 miles
Independent schools · London
-
The Boxing Academy AP Free School0.6 miles
Free Schools · London
-
St Paul's Waldorf School0.6 miles
Independent schools · London
-
Side By Side School0.8 miles
Special schools · London
-
Tawhid Boys School, Tawhid Educational Trust0.8 miles
Independent schools · London
Other schools in London
- Abbey Manor College Local authority maintained schools
- Abingdon House School Special schools
- Ambitious College Other types
- Area 51 Education Ltd Other types
- Beatrice Tate School Special schools
- Beckmead College Academies
- Belmont Park School Special schools
- Beormund Primary School Special schools
- BeyondAutism Post-19 Other types
- Blanche Nevile School Special schools
- Blossom Rose School Special schools
- Brent Knoll School Special schools
Common questions
- What year groups does The Garden School teach?
- The Garden School teaches children aged 4 to 18. It is a special school in London.
- Who is the executive principal of The Garden School?
- The executive principal of The Garden School is Mr Ray Lawrence, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Garden School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Garden School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Garden School?
- The Garden School has 204 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 18.
- Is The Garden School full?
- The Garden School has capacity for 200 pupils and 204 on roll (102%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Garden School a faith school?
- No. The Garden School has no designated religious character.
- What SEN provision does The Garden School have?
- The schools register lists The Garden School's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Garden School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 0% in 2022/23 and 0% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What is The Garden School's absence rate?
- The Garden School's overall absence rate is 9.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Garden School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Garden School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 29 June 2026.