Best secondary schools in Islington: A 2026 guide for parents

Islington is one of London's most tightly packed boroughs, with around ten mainstream state secondary schools serving a demographically mixed population. Applications concentrate on a fairly small set of high-attaining academies, and cross-borough applications to Camden, Hackney and Haringey are common.

Before comparing schools it's worth knowing two national changes. Ofsted removed single-word grades for state schools in September 2024, and on 10 November 2025 it moved to report cards that grade each school across several evaluation areas (inclusion, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, leadership and governance, plus early years and sixth form where relevant) on a five-point scale, with safeguarding marked 'met' or 'not met'. Grades run Exceptional, Strong Standard, Expected Standard, Needs Attention, Urgent Improvement. Progress 8, the value-added measure most parents recognise, has also been paused for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 cycles because KS2 tests were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, so these cohorts have no baseline to measure progress from. Attainment 8, %5+ 9-4 in English and Maths and EBacc average points score are the headline metrics until it returns.

Islington schools don't all admit the same way. Several use banding tests in the autumn of Year 6 to keep a mix of prior attainment across the intake. Faith schools set their own religious criteria through a supplementary information form, then use distance as a tie-breaker. Community academies weight sibling links first, then straight-line distance from home. For a full walkthrough of the shared form and how preferences are matched, see our secondary school application guide.

One thing to avoid: don't take any published catchment distance as fact. Islington schools shift year to year depending on sibling volume and how many families in each postcode apply on-time. Consult the school's admissions team, or read the previous year's furthest distance offered on its own admissions page, rather than assuming a fixed radius.

The mainstream state secondaries below are listed in no particular order. For headline figures on Attainment 8, %5+ 9-4 in English and Maths, and EBacc average points score, use the Department for Education's compare-school-performance service. Read Attainment 8 alongside each school's disadvantaged-pupil proportion for a fair comparison, as several Islington secondaries serve a high pupil-premium intake.

Highbury Grove is a co-educational secondary for Year 7 to 13 on Highbury Grove itself, part of the City of London Academies Trust since December 2017. It runs an active sixth form.

Admission is by distance with sibling priority, and there is no faith requirement. Last graded Good by Ofsted (April 2022). Consult the school's admissions page for its current PAN and last-year furthest distance offered.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is a state girls' community school for ages 11 to 16 on Donegal Street, near King's Cross, with a longstanding STEM specialism. Admission is by distance with sibling priority. Students typically move on to Capital City College or other sixth forms at 16.

Highbury Fields is a state girls' school for ages 11 to 18 on Highbury Hill, N5, with its own sixth form, a strong pastoral reputation and a broad academic and creative offer. Admission by distance with sibling priority; no faith requirement. Students can stay on at Highbury Fields Sixth Form.

City of London Academy Highgate Hill is a mixed 11 to 18 academy on Holland Walk, N19, part of the City of London Academies Trust. Admission is by banding, with sibling and distance criteria layered on top. There's no faith requirement.

St Aloysius' is a Catholic academy on Hornsey Lane that is becoming fully co-educational (already mixed in Years 7 and 8 and the sixth form), run in the Jesuit tradition, with a strong record of pastoral care and university progression. Admission uses banding tests, music auditions and Catholic criteria through a supplementary information form. Faith practice evidence is central to priority ranking, so read the school's own oversubscription criteria carefully.

Islington Arts and Media (IAMS) is a co-educational foundation school for Year 7 to 11 on Turle Road, N4, with a specialist arts and media offer alongside a mainstream academic curriculum. Admission is by distance with sibling priority.

Beacon High, formerly Holloway School, is a mixed comprehensive for Year 7 to 11 on Hilldrop Road. It was renamed Beacon High in 2019 and joined the Lift Schools academy trust in 2026. Admission is non-selective by distance with sibling priority.

City of London Academy Islington is a co-educational 11 to 18 academy on Prebend Street, N1, one of three City of London Academies Trust secondaries in the borough.

Admission is by banding and distance, no faith requirement. Consult the school's admissions page for the current PAN, banding test date and last year's furthest distance offered.

Central Foundation Boys' is a voluntary-aided boys' school for ages 11 to 18 on Cowper Street, EC2A, in the south of Islington. Admission uses banding tests. It has its own sixth form.

St Mary Magdalene Academy is a Church of England all-through academy (ages 4 to 19) on Liverpool Road, N7, with its own sixth form. Check its published admission arrangements for faith and open places.

Post-16, Islington families have three real routes. Several Islington schools run their own sixth forms, including CoLA Highbury Grove, CoLA Islington, CoLA Highgate Hill, Highbury Fields, St Aloysius', Central Foundation Boys' and St Mary Magdalene Academy, with subject grade thresholds set at the school level. LaSWAP in Camden is a common cross-borough option. And selective 16 to 19 free schools further out, including the two London Academy of Excellence sites and King's College London Mathematics School, are worth serious consideration for academically strong students.

Our best sixth forms in London guide groups school sixth forms, standalone 16 to 19 providers and sixth form colleges by type, with pointers to official A-Level data. For a general primer on how post-16 differs from secondary applications, see what is sixth form.

One metric alone won't tell you what a school is really like. Attainment 8 shows average results but not progress from KS2; Progress 8 would tell you that, but it's paused for two cycles. A school's Ofsted report card breaks judgements down across inclusion, curriculum and teaching, achievement, attendance and behaviour, personal development and wellbeing, and leadership and governance, and the narrative is often more useful than the labels.

Islington's demographic context matters here too. Several of the borough's schools serve a large proportion of pupils on free school meals, and their Attainment 8 should be read alongside that context. Use the disadvantaged-pupil breakdowns on the DfE's compare-school-performance service to see how pupils on free school meals do at each school. A school with a lower headline Attainment 8 in a high-pupil-premium intake may be adding more academic value than a school with higher raw results in a more advantaged intake. Visit open evenings, ask about setting, ask what happens for pupils who fall behind, and try to see the school on a normal weekday if you can.

Applications for entry in September 2027 open in September 2026. The on-time deadline is 31 October 2026. National offer day is 1 March 2027. Faith school supplementary forms run to each school's own deadline, which can be slightly earlier than the LA deadline, so check when your Year 6 starts.