Waltham Forest

View Waltham Forest on map
Code: E09000031
Director of Children's Services: Nicky Crouch

Summary of Ofsted findings

Summary of Ofsted findings

Inspection of Waltham Forest’s local authority children’s services

These inspections focus on the effectiveness of local authority services and arrangements:

  • to help and protect children, and enable families to stay together and get the help they need
  • the experiences and progress of children in care wherever they live, including those children who return home
  • the arrangements for permanence for children who are looked after, in stable, loving homes, including adoption
  • the experiences and progress of care leavers.
Inspection type Inspection start date Overall effectiveness Impact of leaders Help and protection Children in care Care leavers
ILACS Short Inspection 8 July 2024 Good Good Good Outstanding Good
ILACS Standard Inspection 28 January 2019 Good Outstanding Good Good No outcome

Data source

Area SEND inspection of Waltham Forest Local Area Partnership

The purpose of an area SEND inspection is to:

  • provide an independent, external evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
  • where appropriate, recommend what the local area partnership should do to improve the arrangements.
Inspection outcome

Waltham Forest was last inspected on 10 February 2025.

The local area partnership's arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements.

They were given no areas for priority action.

The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately 3 years.

Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) ask that the local area partnership updates and publishes its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in this report.

Data source

Joint targeted area inspection of Waltham Forest local authority

The agencies for these inspections can include the police, children’s social care, probation services, education and relevant health services. Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and childcare providers. The focus of these inspections is how effectively the local safeguarding partners work together at the practice and strategic levels.

Theme Inspection start date Link
There have been no JTAI inspections for this local authority.

Data source

Ofsted inspection reports and tools

Local authority inspection reports (opens in new tab)
Access to childcare dashboard (childcare deserts and oases) (opens in new tab)

Local authority context

Population 18 and under Number %
Waltham Forest 65,772 23.5%
National 12,869,368 22.0%

Data source

Children looked after Number Rate per 10,000
Waltham Forest 292 47
National 81,770 67

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for free school meals Number %
Waltham Forest 10,278 26.4%
National 2,085,168 26.7%

Data source

School-age pupils eligible for extra funding (pupil premium) Number %
Waltham Forest 10,754 28.2%
National 2,266,608 29.3%

Data source

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in state-funded settings Number %
Waltham Forest 8,067 18.4%
National 1,766,924 19.6%

Data source

School-age pupils with English as an additional language Number %
Waltham Forest 16,741 40.0%
National 1,806,029 21.4%

Data source

% of children in income-deprived families (IDACI) Average %
Waltham Forest 44.0%
National 38.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Health Index (children and young people) Health Index score
Waltham Forest 104.3
National 100.8
More details about the health index metric

Indicates the health of an area measured in three domains: Healthy People, Health Lives and Healthy Places.

A score of 100 represents health in England in 2015. A higher number means better health and a lower number means worse health.

Data source

Remit overview

Contents

Early years

Population Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
Aged 0 to 5 years 22,413 8.0% 6.4%
Aged 0 3,926 1.4% 1.0%
Aged 1 3,762 1.3% 1.0%
Aged 2 3,883 1.4% 1.1%
Aged 3 3,625 1.3% 1.1%
Aged 4 3,586 1.3% 1.1%
Aged 5 3,631 1.3% 1.1%

Data source

Disadvantaged Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
Early years pupil premium 585 2.6% 3.3%
Children looked after (under 1 year) 7 0.2% 0.6%
Children looked after (1 to 4 years) 40 0.3% 0.4%

Data sources:

Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) /
Education, health and care plans (EHCP) 		Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 2 and under) 47 0.4% 0.3%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 3) 162 4.4% 3.6%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 4) 346 9.4% 9.5%
SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5) 420 12.7% 12.3%
Total: SEN support in state-funded settings (age 5 and under) 975 4.4% 4.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 2 and under) 1 0.0% 0.0%
Children with an EHCP (age 3) 20 0.5% 0.7%
Children with an EHCP (age 4) 115 3.1% 3.5%
Children with an EHCP (age 5) 228 6.9% 4.8%
Total: Children with an EHCP (age 5 and under) 364 1.6% 1.6%

Data sources:

Funded early years places for 2-year-olds Population aged 2-years-old Number of eligible 2-year-olds % of population aged 2 % take-up of funded places
Waltham Forest 3,883 804 20.7% 53.4%
National 630,059 145,824 23.1% 65.2%

Data source

Funded early years places for 3-year-olds Population aged 3-years-old Number of eligible 3-year-olds % of population aged 3 % take-up of funded places
Waltham Forest 3,625 All 3-year olds are eligible 80.5%
National 625,948 90.6%
The 2 and 3-year-old funded places tables look different because they measure different things; funded places for 2-year-olds are only for children considered to be disadvantaged, while for 3-year-olds everyone is entitled to a funded place.

Data source

Children's overweight and obesity Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
Children's overweight and obesity (reception-age children) 610 21.3% 23.5%

Data source

Oral health Number examined in Waltham Forest % examined in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
Oral health (visible tooth decay in 5-year-olds) 258 7.5% 28.7% 22.4%
Back to the top of the section Data source

Schools

Population Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest1 % National1
Primary-age pupils (ages 5 to 11) 23,874 8.5% 8.2%
Secondary-age pupils (ages 12 to 16) 16,708 6.0% 6.2%

Data source

Population of looked-after-children Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest1 % National1
Ages 5 to 9 58 0.3% 0.4%
Ages 10 to 15 95 0.5% 0.7%

Data source

Pupils eligible for free schools meals Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 5,060 22.2% 25.3%
Secondary 4,899 32.2% 27.5%
Alternative provision 9 39.1% 64.6%
Special 310 46.8% 49.5%
Non-maintained special – – 31.0%

Data source

Pupils eligible for pupil premium Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 5,264 22.8% 25.1%
Secondary 5,027 33.5% 28.9%

Data source

Pupils with SEND Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 4,224 17.6% 18.2%
Secondary 2,819 16.9% 16.5%
Alternative provision 18 78.3% 83.4%
Special 816 100.0% 99.9%
Non-maintained special – – 99.7%
Independent schools 164 7.8% 24.1%

Data source

Pupils with English as an additional language Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 9,591 40.0% 23.4%
Secondary 6,730 40.2% 19.2%
Alternative provision 9 39.1% 7.6%
Special 328 40.2% 14.5%
Non-maintained special – – 11.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Attendance of all pupils up to week 4 of calendar year % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 95.3% 95.0%
Secondary 93.0% 91.8%
Special 82.6% 87.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals (summer term 2024/25) % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 92.6% 91.9%
Secondary 89.6% 85.2%
Special 84.4% 85.1%

Data source

Attendance of pupils with SEND (summer term 2024/25) % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 93.1% 92.1%
Secondary 88.9% 84.3%
Special – 87.3%

Data source

Primary attainment: Year 1 phonics screening pass Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
All pupils 2,776 83.6% 79.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 422 74.3% 66.6%
Pupils with SEND 308 50.5% 43.4%
Pupils with English as an additional language 1,059 81.6% 79.5%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Primary attainment: Year 4 times table check (full marks) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
All pupils 1,498 44.7% 36.8%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 361 38.6% 27.4%
Pupils with SEND 206 28.6% 16.5%
Pupils with English as an additional language 654 45.7% 45.2%

Data source

Primary attainment: Key stage 2 reading, writing, maths combined (met the expected standard) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
All pupils 2,291 74.0% 62.6%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 598 62.7% 47.7%
Pupils with SEND 241 38.6% 23.8%
Pupils with English as an additional language 986 73.0% 66.2%

Data source

Secondary attainment: Attainment 8 Average in Waltham Forest2 National average2
All pupils 45.2 45.9
Pupils eligible for free school meals 38.8 35.0
Pupils with SEND 26.4 28.1

Data source

Population receiving education outside of their local authority Number outside of Waltham Forest % outside of Waltham Forest2 % National2
Primary 1,026 4.7% 4.1%
Secondary 2,303 13.9% 8.7%
Special 79 12.2% 9.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source
Children being home educated Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest1 % National1
Primary 200 0.8% 0.8%
Secondary 260 1.6% 2.5%
Total 450 1.1% 1.5%
More details about the children being home educated numbers
Local authority data in the source dataset has been rounded to the nearest 10. As a result totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.

Data source

Suspensions (from primary school) Number in Waltham Forest Rate per 100 pupils in Waltham Forest3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 81 0.3 0.9
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 57 0.2 0.5
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 28 0.6 (in group) 1.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 41 1.0 (in group) 2.4 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded primary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from secondary school) Number in Waltham Forest Rate per 100 pupils in Waltham Forest3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 692 4.1 7.8
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 520 3.1 3.8
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 240 4.8 (in group) 8.2 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 181 6.5 (in group) 9.1 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded secondary schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Suspensions (from special school) Number in Waltham Forest Rate per 100 pupils in Waltham Forest3 Rate per 100 pupils National3
Total number of suspensions 44 5.4 5.1
Total pupils with one or more suspensions 25 3.1 2.9
Pupils with one or more suspensions who are eligible for free school meals 23 6.4 (in group) 4.1 (in group)
Pupils with one or more suspensions with SEND 25 3.1 (in group) 2.9 (in group)
More details about suspensions from state-funded special schools and totals not summing
Suspensions data on total number of pupils may not match, as a change in a pupil’s category within the same term results in them being counted separately under each category. For example, if a pupil receives multiple suspensions while classified as not having SEN, and then receives additional suspensions after being reclassified as receiving SEN support during the same term, they will be recorded as two separate enrolments in the data.

Data source

Back to the top of the section
Exclusions (from primary school) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 2 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 2 0.0% 0.1%

Data source

Exclusions (from secondary school) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 19 0.1% 0.1%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 9 0.2% 0.2%
Pupils with SEND 8 0.3% 0.3%

Data source

Exclusions (from special school) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest2 % National2
Total number of pupils excluded 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils eligible for free school meals 0 0.0% 0.0%
Pupils with SEND 0 0.0% 0.0%
Back to the top of the section Data source

1. % of all children in Waltham Forest / England.

2. % of all pupils in state-funded settings across Waltham Forest / England.

3. Rate per 100 pupils in state-funded settings across Waltham Forest / England.

Further education and skills

Population Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
Aged 16 to 18 years 9,695 3.5% 3.6%
Aged 19 to 21 years 8,266 3.0% 3.6%
Aged 22 to 24 years 10,203 3.6% 3.6%
Aged 25 years and over 195,496 69.9% 70.8%

Data source

Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Number in Waltham Forest % in Waltham Forest % National
16- to 17-year-olds known to LA 6,347 2.4% 2.4%
NEET 65 1.0% 3.4%
Activity not known 34 0.5% 2.2%
Total NEET or activity not known 99 1.6% 5.6%

Data source

16 to 18 progression to higher education or training % in Waltham Forest % National
Degrees (all) 74.0% 66.0%
Degrees at top third higher education institutions 18.0% 24.0%
Higher apprenticeships 2.0% 2.0%
Other study at level 4 and 5 1.0% 3.0%
Progressing to higher education or training 76.0% 70.0%
More details about the further education and skills destinations data

This data reflects the destinations of pupils based on the number on roll when they were aged 16 to 18, tracking where they progressed after completing their studies.

Degree destinations include any study at level 6 or higher such as bachelor degrees, graduate diplomas, and post-graduate degrees. The top third higher education institutions when ranked by average UCAS tariff score of entrants across their best 3 A levels.

Higher apprenticeships are those from level 4 to 7 and are equivalent to a foundation degree and above. Degree apprenticeships are available at levels 6 and 7.

Other study at level 4 or 5 destinations include those students studying qualifications such as foundation degrees, Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs).

Data source

Social care

Explore the findings from Ofsted's local authority inspections.

Explore population characteristics for this local authority.