Forest Academy
Harbourer Road, Hainault, Ilford, IG6 3TN
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- BEACON MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST LIMITED
- Principal Designate
- Mrs Cristalina Fernandes-Bates
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Beacon Multi-Academy Trust Limited
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Ilford North
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 940
- Pupils on roll
- 749
- URN
- 137692
- Local authority
- Redbridge
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02085004266
About this school
Forest Academy is a secondary academy in Ilford. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 749 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 154 | 133 | 151 |
| Attainment 8 score | 40.7 | 44.3 | 42.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.33 -0.59 to -0.08 | +0.11 -0.17 to +0.39 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 32% | 42.9% | 37.1% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 51% | 57.1% | 57.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 78% | 81.2% | 86.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.7 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
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 Forest Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Redbridge average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 40.7 | 50.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 44.3 | 52.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 42.2 | 50 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 758 |
| 2023/24 | 825 |
| 2024/25 | 823 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Forest Academy compares
Forest Academy ranked 19th of 19 secondary schools in Redbridge for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 46% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42.2 | 6% | 31.1% | 749 | — |
| King Solomon High School | 46.8 | 9.9% | 24.5% | 636 | 1.6 miles |
| Ilford County High School | 75.7 | 5.5% | 12.2% | 1,115 | 2.0 miles |
| West Hatch High School | 49.5 | 7.2% | 20.6% | 1,573 | 2.3 miles |
| Oaks Park High School | 53.5 | 6.7% | 22.5% | 1,783 | 2.3 miles |
| The Warren School | 47.6 | 6.8% | 33.3% | 1,392 | 2.5 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 31.11%
- English as an additional language
- 58.8%
- Overall absence
- 5.97%
- Persistent absence
- 18.23%
Location
Nearby schools
-
King Solomon High School1.6 miles
Secondary · Ilford
-
Ilford County High School2.0 miles
Secondary · Ilford
-
West Hatch High School2.3 miles
Secondary · Chigwell
-
Oaks Park High School2.3 miles
Secondary · Ilford
-
The Warren School2.5 miles
Secondary · Romford
Other schools in Ilford
Forest Academy ranks 12th of the 12 ranked secondary schools in Ilford.
- Beal High School Secondary
- Caterham High School Secondary
- Ilford County High School Secondary
- King Solomon High School Secondary
- Oaks Park High School Secondary
- The Palmer Catholic Academy Secondary
- The Ursuline Academy Ilford Secondary
- Valentines High School Secondary
- Al-Noor Voluntary Aided Muslim Primary School Primary
- Aldborough Primary School Primary
- Christchurch Primary School Primary
- Cleveland Road Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Forest Academy teach?
- Forest Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Ilford.
- Who is the principal designate of Forest Academy?
- The principal designate of Forest Academy is Mrs Cristalina Fernandes-Bates, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Forest Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Forest Academy, 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 Forest Academy?
- Forest Academy has 749 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Forest Academy full?
- Forest Academy has capacity for 940 pupils and 749 on roll (80%), 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 Forest Academy a faith school?
- No. Forest Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Forest Academy a selective school?
- No. Forest Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Forest Academy?
- Forest Academy is part of BEACON MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST LIMITED. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does Forest Academy have?
- The schools register lists Forest Academy's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Forest Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 40.7 in 2022/23 and 42.2 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Forest Academy rank locally?
- Forest Academy ranked 19th of 19 secondary schools in Redbridge for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 46% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Forest Academy's absence rate?
- Forest Academy's overall absence rate is 6% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Forest Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Forest Academy'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 1 July 2026.