Sydenham School
Dartmouth Road, London, SE26 4RD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Girls
- Headteacher
- Mrs Emma Wijnberg
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Lewisham West and East Dulwich
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,580
- Pupils on roll
- 1,467
- URN
- 100741
- Local authority
- Lewisham
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02086996731
About this school
Sydenham School is a girls' community secondary school in London. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,467 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Sydenham School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 234 | 231 | 218 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.6 | 49.7 | 50.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.02 -0.21 to +0.16 | +0.10 -0.09 to +0.29 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 53% | 48.1% | 48.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 70% | 66.7% | 72.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 78% | 67.1% | 67.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
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 Sydenham 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 | Lewisham average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.6 | 40 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 49.7 | 39.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 50.8 | 40.9 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,441 |
| 2023/24 | 1,445 |
| 2024/25 | 1,507 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sydenham School compares
Sydenham School ranked 3rd of 14 secondary schools in Lewisham for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 78% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50.8 | 8.2% | 29% | 1,467 | — |
| Forest Hill School | 52.3 | 7% | 30.7% | 1,080 | 0.5 miles |
| Kingsdale Foundation School | 59.9 | 6.7% | 19.4% | 2,550 | 1.1 miles |
| Harris Girls Academy Bromley | 58.3 | 6.4% | 32% | 1,117 | 1.5 miles |
| Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich | 55.5 | 5.4% | 40.2% | 912 | 1.6 miles |
| Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich | 54.3 | 7.8% | 49.3% | 809 | 1.6 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 28.98%
- English as an additional language
- 18.9%
- Overall absence
- 8.23%
- Persistent absence
- 26.39%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Forest Hill School0.5 miles
Secondary · London
-
Kingsdale Foundation School1.1 miles
Secondary · London
-
Harris Girls Academy Bromley1.5 miles
Secondary · Beckenham
-
Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich1.6 miles
Secondary · London
-
Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich1.6 miles
Secondary · London
Other schools in London
Sydenham School ranks 121st of the 258 ranked secondary schools in London.
- Acland Burghley School Secondary
- Ada Lovelace Church of England High School Secondary
- Addey and Stanhope School Secondary
- AIM Academy North London Secondary
- Alexandra Park School Secondary
- All Saints Catholic College Secondary
- All Saints Catholic High School Secondary
- Ark Acton Academy Secondary
- Ark All Saints Academy Secondary
- Ark Bolingbroke Academy Secondary
- Ark Burlington Danes Academy Secondary
- Ark Elvin Academy Secondary
Common questions
- What ages does Sydenham School teach?
- Sydenham School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in London.
- Who is the headteacher of Sydenham School?
- The headteacher of Sydenham School is Mrs Emma Wijnberg, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Sydenham School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sydenham 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 many pupils are at Sydenham School?
- Sydenham School has 1,467 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Sydenham School full?
- Sydenham School has capacity for 1,580 pupils and 1,467 on roll (93%), so it has space against 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 Sydenham School a faith school?
- No. Sydenham School has no designated religious character.
- Is Sydenham School a selective school?
- No. Sydenham School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- How have Sydenham School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 51.6 in 2022/23 and 50.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sydenham School compare with other schools in Lewisham?
- Sydenham School ranked 3rd of 14 secondary schools in Lewisham for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 78% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sydenham School's absence rate?
- Sydenham School's overall absence rate is 8.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sydenham School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sydenham 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 13 August 2026.