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  • Robert Clack School
    Gosfield Road
    Dagenham
    Essex
    RM8 1JU
  • Head: Mr R Taylor
  • T 020 8270 4200
  • F 020 8270 4210
  • E [email protected]
  • W www.robertclack.co.uk
  • A state school for boys and girls aged from 11 to 18. In 2022, primary school includes reception and year 1. Full primary years expected by academic year 2027/28.
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Barking & Dagenham
  • Pupils: 2,863; sixth formers: 565
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Open days: September
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
      • 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
      • Early years provision Good 1
      • Outcomes for children and learners Good 1
      • Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1
      • Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1
    • 1 Full inspection 22nd November 2023
  • Previous Ofsted grade: Good on 8th October 2013
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

Results are way above the national standard for a school with such a big, and expanding, cohort. Used to be a specialist science college and science, maths and computing results still stand out – no mean feat in such a strongly working-class school. Pupils say the English department is also exceptional. Rare is the comp where pupils say nobody really hates sports, everyone feels there are enough teams and they get frequent wins at high level. ‘If there isn’t room for someone who is interested in a sport in an existing team, they either get to be a sub or a new C or D team is created if there’s enough of them,’ a pupil said, with all the ones we met raving about...

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What the school says...

An exceptional comprehensive in one of the most deprived areas of the country. All roads here lead back to the ethos of the school, which is all about mutual respect, compassion, discipline, high expectations and aspirations, and hard work. The school is a source of huge pride for staff, parents and pupils and where every single young person is both encouraged and supported to reach their full potential. ...Read more

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What The Good Schools Guide says

Headteacher

Since 2018, Russell Taylor BSc, previously senior deputy. He grew up in Dagenham, is a former pupil here, gained a first-class degree in economics at Queen Mary and trained as a teacher at the Institute of Education. He joined Robert Clack, his fourth teaching post, in 2002. ‘I didn’t come back with the intention of being the head,’ he says, as if he somehow surprised himself, but nevertheless rose through the ranks and became acting head in 2017 following the departure of his predecessor due to ill health.

Trim, neat, spirited and uninhibited, he is proud of his working-class roots and has a noticeable rapport with the pupils, with whom he spends a great deal of time, both teaching (economics to year 13s the year we visited) and spending much of...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

Interpreting catchment maps

The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.

Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.

For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained

Further reading

If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.

Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.

Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.

*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.

The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.

Children get into the school from here:

regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year


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