The Sydney Russell School
Parsloes Avenue, Dagenham, RM9 5QT
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- PARTNERSHIP LEARNING
- Headteacher
- Mrs Clare Cross
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Partnership Learning
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Barking
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 2,670
- Pupils on roll
- 2,568
- URN
- 141683
- Local authority
- Barking and Dagenham
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02039599900
About this school
The Sydney Russell School is an all-through academy in Dagenham. It teaches children aged 4 to 18 and has 2,568 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
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
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Strong standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Exceptional
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Early years
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 84 | 89 | 90 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 69% | 70% | 83% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 10% | 2% | 7% |
| Expected standard in reading | 81% | 89% | 92% |
| Expected standard in maths | 92% | 92% | 91% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 85% | 85% | 90% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 107.0 | 108.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 107.0 | 108.0 | 108.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.40 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +0.90 | - | - |
| Maths progress | +2.70 | - | - |
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 | 338 | 336 | 341 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.5 | 53.4 | 51.2 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.38 +0.22 to +0.53 | +0.72 +0.57 to +0.88 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 55% | 58% | 52.5% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 73% | 76.8% | 68.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 79% | 74.4% | 72.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.8 | 5.0 | 4.8 |
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 Sydney Russell 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 | Barking and Dagenham average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 69% | 59.1% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 70% | 62.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 83% | 64.9% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | Barking and Dagenham average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.5 | 44.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 53.4 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 51.2 | 43.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 2,557 |
| 2023/24 | 2,593 |
| 2024/25 | 2,640 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Sydney Russell School compares
The Sydney Russell School ranked 4th of 13 secondary schools in Barking and Dagenham for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 79% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 51.2 | 5.4% | 29.3% | 2,568 | — |
| Goresbrook School | 55.6 | 4.8% | 33% | 1,089 | 1.1 miles |
| Robert Clack School | 50.5 | 7.6% | 32.1% | 3,231 | 1.3 miles |
| Eastbrook School | 37.2 | 9.2% | 39.8% | 1,320 | 1.4 miles |
| Eastbury Community School | 44.8 | 7.7% | 31.1% | 2,039 | 1.9 miles |
| Loxford School | 54.4 | 6.6% | 24.6% | 2,799 | 1.9 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
-
Graded inspection report12 May 2026
- 15 September 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.28%
- English as an additional language
- 32.5%
- Overall absence
- 5.36%
- Persistent absence
- 11.57%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Goresbrook School1.1 miles
All-through · Dagenham
-
Robert Clack School1.3 miles
All-through · Dagenham
-
Eastbrook School1.4 miles
All-through · Dagenham
-
Eastbury Community School1.9 miles
All-through · Barking
-
Loxford School1.9 miles
All-through · Ilford
Other schools in Dagenham
The Sydney Russell School ranks 2nd of the 29 ranked primary schools in Dagenham, and The Sydney Russell School ranks 3rd of the 9 ranked secondary schools in Dagenham.
- Eastbrook School All-through
- Goresbrook School All-through
- Robert Clack School All-through
- Beam Primary School Primary
- Becontree Primary School Primary
- Dorothy Barley Infants' School Primary
- Dorothy Barley Junior Academy Primary
- Five Elms Primary School Primary
- Godwin Primary School Primary
- Grafton Primary School Primary
- Henry Green Primary School Primary
- Hunters Hall Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Sydney Russell School teach?
- The Sydney Russell School teaches children aged 4 to 18. It is an all-through school in Dagenham.
- Who is the headteacher of The Sydney Russell School?
- The headteacher of The Sydney Russell School is Mrs Clare Cross, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Sydney Russell School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Sydney Russell 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 Sydney Russell School?
- The Sydney Russell School has 2,568 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 18.
- Is The Sydney Russell School full?
- The Sydney Russell School has capacity for 2,670 pupils and 2,568 on roll (96%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Sydney Russell School a faith school?
- No. The Sydney Russell School has no designated religious character.
- Is The Sydney Russell School a selective school?
- No. The Sydney Russell School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does The Sydney Russell School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records The Sydney Russell School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs The Sydney Russell School?
- The Sydney Russell School is part of PARTNERSHIP LEARNING. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Sydney Russell School have?
- The schools register lists The Sydney Russell School's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Sydney Russell School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 69% in 2022/23 and 83% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Sydney Russell School rank locally?
- The Sydney Russell School ranked 4th of 13 secondary schools in Barking and Dagenham for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 79% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 52% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Sydney Russell School's absence rate?
- The Sydney Russell School's overall absence rate is 5.4% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Sydney Russell School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Sydney Russell 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 15 July 2026.