City of London Academy (Southwark), London

Ofsted's report card from its 3 February 2026 inspection grades City of London Academy (Southwark) on 7 areas: 6 strong standard and 1 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "This is a school where pupils consistently achieve highly across the curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Leaders keep a tight focus on pupils' attendance."

Curriculum and teaching - Strong standard. "The school offers an extremely ambitious curriculum."

Inclusion - Strong standard. "The school's mission to be ‘inclusive by design' is firmly embedded."

Leadership and governance - Strong standard. "Leaders have a firm grasp on what school life is like for pupils."

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "The sixth-form curriculum is ambitious and leaders keep it under regular review."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "The school makes sure that pupils learn about relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education though their ‘society, ethics and beliefs' curriculum."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should make sure that the implementation of the curriculum to cover relationships and sex education and health education has the intended impact so that pupils develop a more detailed understanding of the taught content"; "Leaders should ensure that there are exceptionally high standards across all subjects and phases. This should include work to embed the revised approach for those few pupils new to the school who require phonics teaching to build up their reading fluency".

In its own words: "Our purpose, the Exploration of Life , guides the education of our students during this transformative period of their lives. They are immersed in the best of all that has come before, to enable them to shape what will come next; for themselves, but also the wider world."

From the headteacher's welcome: "Our purpose, the Exploration of Life, guides their education during this transformative period as they are immersed in the best of all that has come before to enable them to shape what will come next; for themselves, but also the wider world."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, tennis, basketball, choir and cooking.

Coming up: an open day on Wednesday 4 November 2026, an open evening on Wednesday 4 November 2026 and an open evening on Friday 11 December 2026. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at City of London Academy (Southwark) averaged an Attainment 8 score of 49, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 50.7 in Southwark and 47 across England.

54% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 53% in Southwark and 47% in England.

That is down from 52.9 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.48: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 46.7, against 52.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 5.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 27 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, History and Social Studies.

For September 2026 entry, 223 families put City of London Academy (Southwark) as their first choice and 660 named it as one of their preferences, for 240 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 16 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to City of London Academy (Southwark) are Harris Academy Bermondsey (0.4 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 54.2); The Charter School Bermondsey (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.9); Ark Walworth Academy (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 44); and St Michael's Catholic College (0.7 miles, Attainment 8 58.7).

City of London Academy (Southwark)'s 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 4 schools.

City of London Academy (Southwark) is one of 12 schools run by City of London Academies Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 47.4 in 2024/25.

30 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about City of London Academy (Southwark) (as of April 2026): 67% would recommend the school, 70% say their child is happy there and 50% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (77%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (50%).

Of the 227 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 89% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 25% to a further education college, 3% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 183 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 67% went on to university or other higher education, 1% to apprenticeships and 11% into work. 22% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

48.8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 270 pupils (17%) received SEN support and 40 (2.5%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest railway station is South Bermondsey Station, about 740 metres away (roughly a 9-minute walk).

12 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Esmeralda Road, 90 metres away.

In 2024/25, City of London Academy (Southwark) issued 245 suspensions, 15.5 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 1 permanent exclusion.

The primary schools closest to City of London Academy (Southwark) are Phoenix Primary School (0.2 miles); John Keats Primary School (0.2 miles); Galleywall Primary, City of London Academy (0.3 miles); and Southwark Park Primary School (0.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.