- Founded by the Rev Ralph Davenant, who left money in his will to build a school for the poor children of his east London parish, Whitechapel, in the 1680s, the school moved to the suburb of Loughton in the 1960s and became an academy in 2011.
- Davenant is a CofE school that admits pupils from many Christian denominations as well as Jewish children who attend nearby synagogues.
- New pupils are first assigned to a form, then to one of the three houses, which are named for significant places in the founder’s life: Gillingham, Whitechapel and Salisbury. Inter-house contests include sporting events and chess and coding challenges.
- Davenant runs a busy schedule of extracurricular activities, such as a debating society, drama groups, robotics and coding clubs, many sports clubs, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.
- More than 250 students receive musical, singing or London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art tuition each week. The long-running school choir has more than 100 members, and many pupils also take part in school musicals and dance productions.
- There are floodlit netball courts, a fitness suite, extensive playing fields and an indoor swimming pool. Davenant is a lead school for the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations’ Get Set programme; several former pupils have represented Team GB at Olympic Games.
Results
A-level 2025 rank: 359=
Grade
%
A*/A
26.5
A*-B
52.5
GCSE 2025 rank: 282
Grade
%
9/8/7
34.2