Quwwat Ul Islam Girls' School

Few schools in east London can show a turnaround as steep as this one. The latest full inspection, in June 2024, returned a judgement of Good, a sharp recovery from the low points of 2020 and 2022. Behaviour was placed in the highest category available, which tells you a great deal about how the place now runs. That is the story parents need first: a small independent Muslim girls' school in Forest Gate that rebuilt itself rather than coasting. Founded in 2003 and led by head teacher Mrs Shazia Member since 2017, it serves around 200 pupils across primary and secondary, with fees that sit far below the London independent average. From April 2026 it adds a nursery and opens its early years and primary phases to boys, widening a school that has, until now, been girls only from Reception to Year 11.

The school sits on a quiet residential street off Romford Road, close to Forest Gate station, in one of the most diverse boroughs in the country. Its identity is plainly stated: an education shaped by Islamic values and academic ambition, captured in a motto of Together we can achieve more and three values printed across school life, Respect, Aspiration and Responsibility. Faith is woven into the day. Pupils have access to the masjid and a wudu khana for prayers, and Islamic studies runs alongside the standard curriculum from the early years upwards.

The stated vision is to be a school of excellence both Islamically and academically, building God-consciousness and good character together with strong results rather than treating the two as separate projects. That ambition is broken into four learning drivers the school returns to repeatedly: caring for ourselves, our world, our education and our rights. For parents, the practical effect is a school with a clear sense of what it is for, which is no small thing in a setting that has had to rediscover its purpose. Newham is among the youngest and most ethnically mixed boroughs in England, and an affordable faith school that takes academic standards seriously fills a specific gap for many local families.

Conduct, not creed, is what most defines daily life. Behaviour earns the top mark, and pupils come across as studious, responsible and genuinely positive about learning. This is a calm, orderly school where attendance and punctuality are pushed hard, down to classroom posters reminding pupils that every minute counts. The personal development programme leans into rights, responsibilities and British values taught explicitly alongside Islamic values, so pupils are asked to hold both frameworks at once rather than choosing between them. For a faith school that some families approach with questions about breadth, that deliberate pairing is reassuring.

The atmosphere is also one of recovery in motion. Leaders, trustees and governors worked tirelessly to secure improvement after the 2020 setback, and the curriculum was rebuilt almost from scratch over the two years that followed. The proprietor body now meets all the independent school standards and the relevant requirements of the Equality Act 2010, a meaningful detail for a school that had previously fallen short. Families considering Quwwat-ul-Islam are joining a community that knows exactly how far it has come, and one where the leadership team has the recent scars and the recent wins to prove it.

Quwwat-ul-Islam is primarily a school to judge at GCSE, and the picture is solid rather than spectacular. Across its core subjects the school steers pupils towards an academic spread that takes in English, maths, science, a language and a humanity, rather than narrowing the offer to chase headline figures. Results land in the middle band of performance, which for a non-selective independent admitting across the ability range is a respectable outcome and a long way from where the school stood five years ago.

The Year 11 group is small, around 19 pupils, so individual results move the percentages a good deal year to year. Parents should read these figures as the performance of a tight cohort rather than a large year band: one or two pupils who excel, or who have an off day, shift the headline more than they would in a 200-strong year. The flip side is close attention, with teachers who know every candidate by name and can tailor support down to the individual.

For England standing, the school holds an England rank of 2130 and a local rank of 17 within Newham. These are proprietary FindMySchool rankings built from official data, and they place the school broadly in line with the central 35% of schools in England. For a school rebuilding its curriculum only a couple of years ago, holding a mid-table England position while behaviour earns the top mark is a respectable platform, and the trajectory points upward rather than down. The local hub comparison tool lets families line these figures up against other Newham schools side by side.

The primary phase does not yet carry published key stage results in a form that supports an England ranking, which is common for a small all-through independent. The fairer read of the primary years is that pupils achieve well, with strong phonics teaching and a love of reading reinforced by weekly trips to the local library. The school is, in its own words, a thriving community where pupils achieve well, and that is the most useful single benchmark for the lower school until results data matures.

Teaching is the engine of the school's recovery, and it shows. The curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced, a marked change from the position two years earlier. Teachers explain new material clearly, introduce subject-specific vocabulary deliberately, and check that pupils can use key terms accurately before moving on. That discipline of language carries into reading, where pupils build genuine contextual understanding, linking a text such as Jane Eyre to suffrage and disability history rather than reading it in isolation.

Phonics is a particular strength and a consistent one. Staff are trained in a systematic synthetic phonics scheme and follow it closely, with one-to-one support to bring slower readers back up to pace. The Read Write Inc programme anchors early reading, and that strength held firm through the most recent monitoring visit in December 2025. The early years curriculum plans pupils' learning journeys all the way from age 3 to 16, with a well-resourced environment designed for language exploration and strong use of modelling by teachers. That continuity is one of the practical advantages of an all-through setting: a child can follow a single, coherent curriculum thread for years rather than negotiating a sharp break between schools.

The honest caveat concerns expertise. At times staff lack the specialist knowledge to push pupils to the very highest outcomes, particularly in supporting some special educational needs, and leaders have been asked to ensure all staff have the skills to carry out their roles with maximum positive impact. It is a development point rather than a failing, and the school knows its pupils with additional needs broadly, but it is the area to watch and the one most worth raising at an open visit.

As an all-through school ending at age 16, Quwwat-ul-Islam has two natural exit points: progression from the primary phase into Year 7, and the move from Year 11 to post-16 study elsewhere. The school does not run a sixth form, so every Year 11 leaver transfers to a college or sixth form for A-levels or vocational routes. Newham and the surrounding boroughs offer a wide spread of providers, and the careers education here is well structured in the secondary phase and explicitly designed to help pupils see the value in their education. That matters most precisely at the point a 16-year-old chooses where to study next.

Internal progression from primary to secondary is not automatic in the way a state all-through guarantees it; the school assesses applicants at every stage, so families should confirm how a primary pupil moves into Year 7 and what is expected of her. Destination data for individual leavers is not published, which is typical for a school of this size, so the most reliable signal is the careers and guidance work that prepares pupils to value the next step. For a faith-centred family, the appeal of the model is continuity from age 3 through to GCSE in a single, values-led setting, followed by a confident, supported handover at 16 to the wider college network across east London.

Entry is non-selective in ethos but assessed in practice. The school states clearly that all applicants sit an admissions test, and that places are offered subject to space and to payment confirmation within two weeks. Applications run online and are not processed until a £30 administration fee is paid, an amount later set against fees if a place is taken. Where there is no immediate space, a child is added to a waiting list and invited to interview when a place opens. Children of all faiths and backgrounds are welcomed to apply, though the Islamic ethos is central to daily life and is the main reason families choose the school.

The entry landscape is changing in 2026. Following a material change approved in December 2025, the school is extending its age range from 4-16 to 3-16, opening a nursery from April 2026, and admitting both boys and girls to the early years and primary phases. The secondary phase remains girls only. The school roll is set to grow substantially as a result, with capacity rising towards 310 places. The early years accommodation has been enlarged and redesigned, with separate classrooms for Reception and Nursery and new toilet and washing facilities suited to the youngest children, and the primary phase has appropriate separate facilities for boys and girls. Trustees planned the expansion carefully, with an action plan covering demand, funding, staffing and staff training.

For the new nursery, applications run through a dedicated form rather than the main route. There is also a Hifdh (Qur'an memorisation) application for Year 3 and above, taught in early-morning sessions before the school day, and a parent referral scheme that rewards families who introduce others. Because exact processes are shifting as the school grows, families should confirm current entry points, ages and assessment details directly with the school. To weigh location, the FindMySchool map search lets you compare your home's distance to schools across Newham side by side, and the saved-schools shortlist makes it easy to track the school against alternatives while you decide.

Pastoral care is a genuine strength, and it is bound up with the behaviour culture that earns the school's top mark. The school knows its pupils and families well, intervenes to improve attendance when needed, and understands pupils' needs broadly. A dedicated wellbeing room gives pupils a calm space, and the personal development programme is built around the school's three values of respect, aspiration and responsibility, teaching pupils about their rights and responsibilities within both a British and an Islamic framework.

Safeguarding is effective, with a knowledgeable and experienced team and a complete, well-organised single central record, the document that tracks staff vetting. Relationships and sex education is planned in line with statutory guidance and delivered within the school's faith framework. The school also runs regular drop-in sessions for parents whose children need additional support, a small but telling sign of a setting that wants families inside the conversation rather than communicating only through reports. For families seeking a structured, values-led environment for daughters in particular, the combination of strong conduct, careful safeguarding and attentive pastoral oversight is the school's clearest selling point, and the part of the offer least affected by the school's size.

For a small school on a compact site, the enrichment offer is more purposeful than its size suggests, leaning into academic ambition, faith and physical activity rather than trying to be everything at once.

Science enrichment is a recognisable thread. Pupils have earned Bronze CREST Awards, the British Science Association scheme that rewards independent investigative projects, which signals a school that pushes beyond the textbook in science. A fully equipped science lab and an information and communication technology lab support that work on site, and the curriculum's emphasis on subject-specific vocabulary feeds directly into the kind of precise scientific writing CREST projects demand.

Sport runs through the year despite limited indoor space. The school hall doubles as the venue for indoor sport, dining and assemblies, and the annual sports day takes pupils off site to the Terrace McMillan Stadium in nearby Plaistow, giving them a proper athletics setting rather than a playground substitute. An outdoor playground covers daily physical activity for the younger pupils. It is a pragmatic offer that makes the most of a tight footprint, and the off-site sports day shows the school is willing to hire in facilities it does not own.

Reading and faith complete the picture, and both are distinctive. Weekly visits to the local library are built into the timetable, reinforcing the school's reading culture, and early years parents are invited in for reading afternoons every Thursday at 2:45pm, drawing families directly into the youngest children's learning. The Hifdh programme, running from 7:30 to 10:15 each morning for Year 3 upwards, offers structured Qur'an memorisation for families who want it, a serious daily commitment few mainstream settings provide and one of the clearest reasons faith-minded parents choose the school. Primary enrichment clubs run in dedicated blocks across the term, and the school marks its year with community events such as a summer Funday, the kind of occasion that keeps a small school feeling like a community rather than just a set of classrooms.

The school day starts early and varies by phase. Early years and Key Stage 1 pupils arrive at 8:15am and finish at 3:05pm, Key Stage 2 finishes at 3:15pm, and secondary students run from 8:00am to 3:25pm. Lunch and break sit at 11:30am for the younger children and 12:45pm for secondary, with dining in the school hall. The school does not publish formal before or after-school wraparound care, so working families should confirm arrangements directly; the early Hifdh sessions and termly enrichment clubs are the main structured additions to the standard day. The nursery opening in April 2026 will operate within the early years framework, and for nursery fee details parents should see the school website, with government-funded hours available for eligible families; see our guide to nursery funding.

Forest Gate is well connected. The school sits within easy reach of Forest Gate and Wanstead Park stations and several bus routes through Newham, making it accessible across the borough and from neighbouring areas such as Manor Park, Stratford and Ilford. For a small independent, drawing from a wide catchment matters, and the location supports it.

The recovery is recent. The school sat well below its current standing as recently as 2020 and 2022 before reaching Good in 2024. The trajectory is strongly positive and behaviour is now exceptional, but families are backing a turnaround that is only two years old rather than a long, settled record. The encouraging 2025 follow-up visit adds confidence, but the next full check will be the real test of whether the improvement has stuck.

Staff expertise is the open development point. Staff at times lack the specialist knowledge, including for some special educational needs, to secure the very best outcomes, and leaders have been asked to strengthen training. Parents of children with additional needs in particular should discuss provision in detail before applying.

Results are mid-band and the cohort is small. GCSE performance sits broadly in line with the central band of schools in England, and with only around 19 pupils at the end of Year 11, individual results swing the figures from year to year. This is a calm, conscientious school rather than a high-octane academic hothouse.

The school is changing shape. The 2026 move to add a nursery, take pupils from age 3, admit boys to early years and primary, and grow towards 310 places is significant. The model parents see now is mid-transition, so confirm current arrangements, class sizes and facilities before applying.

Quwwat-ul-Islam Girls' School is a small independent that has done the hard work of rebuilding, and the result is a calm, faith-centred school where behaviour is exceptional, teaching has been transformed and pupils achieve solidly at GCSE. It is best suited to Muslim families in Newham and east London who want an affordable independent education with a strong Islamic ethos, firm discipline and attentive pastoral care, particularly for daughters through the secondary years, and now for younger boys and girls in the new early years phase from 2026. The main caveat is that the recovery is young and academic results are mid-band rather than elite, with staff expertise the area leaders are still strengthening. Families wanting a long track record, a sixth form, or a high-pressure academic environment should weigh that carefully against the school's clear momentum and its genuinely strong values and conduct.