Ilford, Greater London · Redbridge

Ilford County High School

The published 104 qualifying score is barely above the standardised average of 100 — a floor to be ranked at all, not a realistic guide to what actually secures a place among roughly 2,500 candidates for 360 combined places.

Founded in 1901, Ilford County High is a Community school, meaning the London Borough of Redbridge itself — not the school — is the legal admissions authority, confirmed directly in the council's own determined admissions arrangements. It shares its entire selective system with sister school Woodford County High (girls): the same GL Assessment 11+ test, the same 104-point qualifying threshold, and the same 'Common Catchment Area,' which functions in practice as a hard boundary — the council states plainly that only in-catchment children have been admitted to either grammar school in the last ten years. Unusually, there is no sibling priority anywhere in the grammar admissions round, unlike Redbridge's ordinary comprehensive schools.

Key facts

Gender: boys
Age range: 11-18
Region: London
Local authority: Redbridge
Established: 1901
DfE URN: 102850
Website: https://www.ichs.org.uk

Admissions

Admissions authority: Local-authority coordinated test
Entrance test board: GL Assessment.
Test format: Two papers sat on one day at a test centre (either this school or Woodford County High): English and Verbal Reasoning, and Mathematics and Non-Verbal Reasoning, each around 50-60 minutes with a break between.
Qualifying / pass mark: 104 (standardised score, mean 100) for September 2027 entry — a minimum threshold below which an applicant isn't even ranked or waitlisted, shared identically with Woodford County High School. This is barely above average and is not a realistic guide to the score actually needed for a place: with roughly 2,500 candidates (per unverified secondary sources) competing for around 360 combined places across both schools, the real last-rank offer score is far higher but isn't published anywhere the council or school makes public.verify with school
The real score needed to secure an offer, as opposed to the 104 minimum threshold to be ranked at all, isn't published anywhere by Redbridge or the school. Secondary tutoring sites give only vague competitiveness estimates without a specific score.
Superselective?: Not established

Catchment & priority criteria

A shared 'Common Catchment Area' used identically for both Ilford County High and Woodford County High, defined via Redbridge's own online mapping tool. Out-of-catchment applicants are only considered after in-catchment demand is met, and the council states only in-catchment children have been admitted to either grammar school in the last ten years — functioning as a hard boundary in practice, not a soft preference.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children
Pupil Premium-eligible children — 45 places reserved (25% of the 180-place admission number), ranked by standardised score among Pupil Premium-eligible applicants
Other children living in the Common Catchment Area, ranked by standardised score
Children living outside the Common Catchment Area, ranked by standardised score
All applicants must first clear the 104 minimum threshold to be ranked at all. Tie-break: shortest GIS-measured walking distance, then random allocation. Unlike Redbridge's ordinary comprehensive schools, there is no staff-children category and no sibling priority in the grammar admissions round.

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2024	77.4	99.4%	+0.87 — this cohort predates the COVID-era gap. The prior cohort (2022/23) scored +0.77, also strong.	—	—
A-level: average point score 35.89 ('Close to average' against the England figure of 34.38), value-added -0.1 (England average 0.0). Sourced via Ofsted's embedded DfE performance tables, since DfE's own Compare School Performance portal was inaccessible during this research.
2025	75.5 (provisional; a secondary aggregator states 75.7 for the same year, unreconciled)	97.2%	Not calculated — consistent with the nationwide COVID-era gap for this cohort	verify with school	verify with school
A-level: average point score 41.23 (England average 34.99, above), value-added 0.0 (England average 0.0, 'close to average'). A secondary aggregator's claimed A-A/A-B percentages and a different value-added score don't match the primary DfE-sourced data embedded in Ofsted's January 2026 report and aren't used here.

Ofsted

Rating: Under Ofsted's new report-card framework: 'Strong standard' across every evaluated area — Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, Personal Development and Wellbeing, and Post-16 Provision. Safeguarding met. No 'Exceptional' ratings were given in any category. The previous inspection (2021) rated the school Good under the old framework — not directly comparable to the new scale, so this shouldn't be read as a decline. Several secondary sites still show the superseded 2021 'Good' rating as current, or incorrectly describe the January 2026 report card itself as having issued a 'Good' grade, which the new framework doesn't do.
Date: 6 January 2026
Report: Read the full report

Sources

1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/102850
2. Redbridge Council — determined admission arrangements, 2027-28 entry — https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/media/223ce0bg/determined-admissions-arrangements-for-2027-2028.pdf
3. Redbridge Council — Redbridge 11 Plus information page — https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/schools/school-admissions/redbridge-11-plus/
4. Ofsted report card, inspected 6 January 2026 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50296212
5. Ofsted report, prior inspection 21 September 2021 (superseded) — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50173983
6. School's own Admissions page — https://ichs.org.uk/9/key-information/category/1/admissions
7. School's own History page — https://www.ichs.org.uk/22/the-history-of-ichs

Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.