Woodford Green, Greater London · Redbridge
Woodford County High School
The council's own admissions document states plainly that no out-of-catchment child has been offered a place in the last ten years — an official, quantified soft ceiling rarely stated this directly elsewhere.
Founded in 1919, Woodford County High is, like brother school Ilford County High, 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 policy document. The two schools share an identical selective system: the same GL Assessment test, the same 104-point minimum threshold, and the same 'Common Catchment Area,' which functions as a hard boundary in practice — the council states outright that only in-catchment children have been admitted to either grammar school in the last ten years, despite out-of-catchment applicants nominally being eligible.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- London
- Local authority
- Redbridge
- Established
- 1919
- DfE URN
- 102852
- Website
- https://www.woodford.redbridge.sch.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- Local-authority coordinated test
- Entrance test board
- GL Assessment.
- Test format
- Two papers sat on one day: English and Verbal Reasoning, and Mathematics and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Administered and registered centrally by Redbridge Council, not the school.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- 104 (minimum threshold score) for the 2027-28 admissions cycle, shared identically with Ilford County High School. This is a floor, not a guarantee of a place: no one scoring below it is even added to the ranked or waiting list, and places are then allocated in rank order above that floor until the 180-place admission number is filled — the realistic score actually needed for a place is materially higher, but that figure isn't published anywhere found.
- Superselective?
- Not establishedpartly verified
This is an interpretive judgement rather than a raw fact — see full reasoning in superselectiveNote.
Genuinely in-between, per Redbridge Council's own admissions document, the primary source here since the council, not the school, is the admissions authority. Against 'superselective': there's a single minimum threshold plus pure rank-order-by-merit, not a separately elevated superselective banding, the document never uses the term, and Woodford isn't typically grouped with commonly cited superselectives like Henrietta Barnett or Tiffin. For 'superselective' in practice: the council's own document states 'the level of ability for entry is very high,' the school is heavily oversubscribed, and the council states that no out-of-catchment child has been admitted in the last ten years despite nominal eligibility — indicating the real bar sits far above the nominal 104 threshold. Reported as null/in-between rather than forced to a binary answer.
Catchment & priority criteria
A shared 'Common Catchment Area' used jointly with Ilford County High School, defined via Redbridge Council's own online mapping tool. Out-of-catchment applicants are nominally the lowest priority tier, but the council's own document states no out-of-catchment child has been offered a place at either grammar school in the last ten years.
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children, regardless of catchment
- Up to 45 places (25% of the 180-place admission number) for children eligible for Pupil Premium, ranked by standardised test score
- Other children living in the Common Catchment Area, ranked by standardised test score
- Children living outside the Common Catchment Area, ranked by standardised test score
- Tie-break: shortest GIS-measured walking distance from home to school, then random allocation via the council's admissions system
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 78.3 (secondary source, not independently confirmed against DfE directly) | verify with school | +0.79 (secondary source only) — directionally consistent with this cohort predating the COVID-era Progress 8 gap, but not independently confirmed against DfE | — | — |
| No A*-A/A*-B breakdown for this year's A-levels was found in any source checked. | |||||
| 2025 | 80.1 (secondary source, not independently confirmed against DfE directly, which was inaccessible during this research) | 98.9% (secondary source) | Not calculated — confirmed as the nationwide COVID-era gap for this cohort | 48% | 78% |
| A-level (school's own published figures): around 48% A*-A, around 78% A*-B, closely corroborated by a secondary aggregator (48.6%/77.3%). A separate GCSE grade-9/grades-9-7 breakdown conflicted between two secondary sources (one giving 44%/87%, another giving 85% for grades 9-7 alone) and isn't reported as a single figure here. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good overall (this was a full graded inspection under the pre-September 2024 framework — no inspection has occurred since, so this remains current). Quality of education and sixth-form provision were both Outstanding; behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management were all Good.
- Date
- 22 November 2022
- 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/102852
- 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. School's own Year 7 Application Procedure page — https://www.woodford.redbridge.sch.uk/page/?title=YEAR+7+APPLICATION+PROCEDURE&pid=543
- 5. Ofsted report, inspected 22 November 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50207506
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.