E-ACT Crest Academy Review 2026: A disciplined, broad-curriculum secondary with a growing sixth form

In Brent’s NW2, this is a large, mixed secondary with a clear message about routines and readiness. The school sits within the E-ACT trust and serves students aged 11 to 19, with capacity for 1,650.

Leadership has recently changed. Mrs Andrea Rosewell became headteacher from September 2024, which matters because it frames the school’s next phase as much as any historical inspection judgement.

Parents weighing Crest typically want two things at once, calm standards and breadth. The published curriculum and the Ofsted evidence both point to a school trying to secure the basics, while also keeping pathways open into Key Stage 4 and a genuinely expanded post 16 offer.

Crest’s tone is set through a mix of behaviour language and practical systems. Students are expected to arrive ready to learn, with punctuality emphasised as a non negotiable. The school’s behaviour framework also signals a preference for structured consequences, including central detentions and staged responses to disruption, with named internal spaces used for reflection and reset.

The culture is also expressed in the language students use. The school’s “Ready, Respectful, Safe” mantra, developed with pupils, is presented as a shared reference point for how corridors and classrooms should feel. The point for families is straightforward. If your child tends to do well when expectations are explicit and consistently reinforced, this kind of environment can be stabilising. If your child is anxious around sanctions or struggles with tight compliance routines, you will want to probe how the pastoral team balances firmness with flexibility.

A second strand is “how learning is organised”. External evidence describes lessons beginning with recall activities and a “Learning Journey” approach, designed to connect prior knowledge to new content. For many students, especially those who benefit from predictable lesson architecture, this can reduce cognitive load and help them build confidence over time.

Ranked 2,809th in England and 16th in Brent for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), Crest sits below England average overall, placing it in the lower performance band.

On the GCSE measures available, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 41.1. Progress 8 sits at -0.03, which is close to the England midpoint and suggests outcomes broadly reflect prior attainment, rather than consistently exceeding it.

EBacc indicators point to an academic core that is present but not yet translating into strong top end outcomes. The average EBacc APS score is 3.68, and 8.2% of pupils achieve grade 5 or above across the EBacc measure.

Ranked 2,488th in England and 12th in Brent for A-level outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data), sixth form outcomes also sit in the lower performance band.

At A-level, the picture is developing rather than established. The proportion achieving A* is 1.32%, A is 1.97%, B is 11.18%, and A* to B combined is 14.47%. Those figures indicate that high grades are currently achieved by a smaller minority than in many large London sixth forms, and they reinforce why sixth form fit should be assessed subject by subject.

A useful way to interpret these results is to focus less on whether Crest is “high performing” in a league table sense, and more on whether the school’s structure helps your child make steady progress and access post 16 opportunities that match their goals. For some families, particularly those prioritising stability, attendance, and a broad offer with clear boundaries, the academic profile can still be a workable fit.

Crest’s stated and externally evidenced approach emphasises curriculum breadth at Key Stage 3 and a tighter sequencing model. Official evidence describes leaders increasing the time pupils spend studying a wide range of subjects through Years 7 to 9, then continuing that ambition into GCSE options.

The practical classroom implication is a preference for revisiting and retaining knowledge, not simply moving on after coverage. The inspection evidence highlights routine recall and deliberate sequencing (for example, building from ecosystems and rainforests into climate change applications), which is exactly the sort of method that can help students who need repeated retrieval to secure foundations.

The main developmental area is consistency. External evidence flags that “know more, remember more” strategies were not yet fully embedded across all year groups at the time of the most recent inspection, with particular fragility noted in Years 8 and 9. For parents, this is a prompt to ask practical questions: how do departments monitor consistent routines, what does quality assurance look like now, and how does the school support students who are slipping behind in recall and independent practice.

Crest does not publish a complete destination breakdown with named universities and counts across the cohort, so the most reliable view is the standard leavers destinations profile for the 2023/24 cohort (79 students). In that cohort, 61% progressed to university, 5% moved into apprenticeships, 9% entered employment, and 3% progressed to further education.

The sixth form’s own materials focus strongly on employability and higher education preparation rather than headline prestige numbers. The sixth form prospectus describes structured UCAS support beginning in Year 12, plus explicit routes for apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships. It also points to employer exposure and work placements, including examples such as Disney+, Allen & Overy, KPMG, Fidelity, and the NHS.

The implication is that Crest’s post 16 offer aims to be practical and outward facing. For students who need help turning aspiration into action, the combination of careers guidance, workplace exposure, and coached application timelines can be valuable. For highly academic students targeting very selective courses, it will be important to ask what stretch provision looks like in each subject, how the school supports top grade attainment, and whether class sizes and teacher expertise match that level of ambition.

Year 7 admissions are coordinated by Brent. For September 2026 entry, applications opened on 01 September 2025 and the deadline was 31 October 2025. Offers are released on 02 March 2026, with a response deadline of 16 March 2026.

Crest’s determined admissions arrangements confirm a published admission number (PAN) of 330 for Year 7, and state that the academy follows Brent’s application timeline for Year 7.

For Year 12, the PAN is 100, and the sixth form prospectus indicates a structured guidance model with course choice discussions and an interview or meeting as part of ensuring choices are realistic.

Open events matter here because they give families the clearest view of day to day culture and expectations. The school advertised open mornings for Years 5 and 6 in mid September 2025, which suggests early autumn is the typical window. Treat this as a pattern rather than a live date, and check current listings for the next cycle.

If you are comparing multiple local options, FindMySchool’s Map Search is a sensible way to sanity check travel time and day to day feasibility before you commit to a shortlist.

The safeguarding baseline is clear. The latest Ofsted inspection (9 to 10 November 2021) confirmed Crest continues to be a Good school, and safeguarding arrangements were judged effective.

The inspection evidence also describes pupils reporting that bullying is rare and that staff presence around the start and end of day increases their sense of safety. That kind of visible duty model can be reassuring for families, particularly for students who are nervous about transition into Year 7.

Crest also uses systems that shape wellbeing indirectly, especially around distraction and online risks. The current behaviour policy describes a “phone pouch” approach, with routine checks and defined consequences if students use phones during the school day. The benefit is a calmer learning environment with fewer low level interruptions. The trade off is that students who use phones for anxiety management or specific needs will require an agreed plan, and parents should ask how reasonable adjustments are handled in practice.

Extracurricular life at Crest is best understood as two linked strands, enrichment for all, and targeted opportunities tied to personal development and sixth form progression.

For lower school, the most reliable named examples come from the inspection evidence and the school’s wider documentation. Basketball is specifically referenced as an activity offered before and after school, and trips were described as restarting with curriculum linked examples such as a Year 10 geography field trip.

For sixth form, enrichment is positioned as a key part of student identity and destinations. The sixth form prospectus lists public speaking workshops, the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) as examples of enrichment that sit alongside the academic programme. The point is not simply “more activities”. It is the role these activities play in applications, confidence, and employability. Public speaking builds interview competence, EPQ supports independent research and academic writing, and Duke of Edinburgh can evidence persistence and teamwork.

Crest’s careers offer is also unusually concrete in its examples. The sixth form materials refer to talks from Imperial College and UCL, virtual sessions with Amazon, and an “Industry day” exposing students to fields such as accountancy, engineering, media production, finance, and law. For many families, this is the most distinctive part of the post 16 proposition, because it provides real context for students who are unsure what a professional pathway looks like.

Punctuality expectations are explicit. Students are expected to be inside the school gate before 8:40am. The publicly accessible material available at the time of writing does not consistently state one single finish time for all year groups, and end of day can also be affected by central detentions and after school enrichment.

Term dates for 2025 to 2026 are published, which helps families planning childcare and holidays.

For transport, this is a London setting where many families will use bus routes and local stations. The most practical approach is to trial the commute at the same time of day your child would travel, because a workable route on paper can feel very different in rush hour conditions.

• Results profile: GCSE and A-level outcomes currently sit in the lower performance band on the available measures. This may still suit many learners, but families seeking consistently high top grade attainment will want to probe subject level performance and set placement.

• Consistency between departments: The most recent inspection evidence flagged that curriculum recall approaches were not fully embedded across all year groups at that time. Ask how the school now checks consistency, especially in Years 8 and 9.

• Strict routines: Behaviour systems are clearly defined, including phone restrictions and central sanctions. This can create a calm learning environment, but it will not suit every child.

• Post 16 ambitions need matching to outcomes: The sixth form offer is rich in careers exposure and enrichment, but high A-level grades are currently achieved by a smaller minority. For students aiming at selective courses, ask for subject specific support detail.

E-ACT Crest Academy is a large, rules led secondary with a broad curriculum intent and a sixth form that places significant emphasis on careers exposure and structured progression planning. It will suit families who value clarity, routines, and a school actively building post 16 pathways, including enrichment like EPQ and Duke of Edinburgh alongside employer engagement. It may be less well matched to students who need a softer compliance culture, or to families whose priority is consistently high top end examination outcomes across departments.