The Excelsior Academy, London

In its own words: "At The Excelsior Academy, our mission is to empower, inspire, and guide every student to believe in themselves, achieve their goals and excel in life. We do this through academic excellence, personalised support, and nurturing an environment conducive to fostering continuous improvement, determination, kindness, and respect."

From the headteacher's welcome: "I would like to extend a very warm welcome to The Excelsior Academy. The Excelsior Academy is an exceptional learning environment with a real community spirit."

In 2026, pupils at The Excelsior Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.6, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 52.3 in Hackney and 47 across England.

48% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 57% in Hackney and 47% in England.

That is up from 44.7 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.46: 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 42.6, against 53 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 10.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 19 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and History.

For September 2026 entry, 77 families put The Excelsior Academy as their first choice and 250 named it as one of their preferences, for 139 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to The Excelsior Academy are Mossbourne Community Academy (0.4 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 67.2); Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form (0.7 miles, Good, Attainment 8 52.2); Clapton Girls' Academy (0.9 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 60.7); and The Urswick School - A Church of England Secondary School (0.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 41.7).

The Excelsior Academy's 2026 results were higher than 1 of these 4 schools.

The Excelsior Academy is one of 7 schools run by Community Schools Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 53.5 in 2024/25.

Of the 176 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 93% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 28% to a further education college and 1% to an apprenticeship.

Of the 68 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 65% went on to university or other higher education, 7% to apprenticeships and 10% into work. 17% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

63.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 43.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Black (38%), Asian (22%) and Mixed (9%).

In 2026, 94 pupils (9.6%) received SEN support and 42 (4.3%) 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 autism.

The Excelsior Academy has a resourced provision for hearing impairment: 12 places, 12 pupils on roll.

The Excelsior Academy had 78 teachers in 2026, one for every 13 pupils: more teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

The nearest railway station is Dalston Kingsland Station, about 470 metres away (roughly a 6-minute walk).

19 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is The Petchey Academy (->e), 100 metres away.

In 2024/25, The Excelsior Academy issued 232 suspensions, 23.4 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 6 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to The Excelsior Academy are Halley House School (under 0.1 miles), Shacklewell Primary School (0.1 miles), Princess May Primary School (0.3 miles) and St Matthias Church of England Primary School (0.3 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.