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The Hive Education Trust grew the St Mary Magdalene Academy SAT in Islington, North London.
Founded in 2007, our management team built the Academy from the ground up, with the dream of creating an inspiring school focused on happy and successful children. Our Academy is now the most over–subscribed school in our inner city borough of Islington and is rated Outstanding by Ofsted.
In 2019, we founded Hive Education Trust, a not-for-profit Multi Academy Trust. The same leaders and many of the same team who built the first Academy – and have learned so much along the way – are now looking to join forces with other schools. We're ready to share our experience, and eager to learn from yours.
Our ambition for Hive Education Trust is to grow a thriving community of between three and five schools in the London region. We believe that working together with other schools can enrich us all – pooling our experience, offering guidance when called upon, and learning from each other.
We welcome schools from all phases and designations, both faith and non–faith, that share our values.
SMMA Primary School
St Mary Magdalene Academy Primary is a one-form entry primary for children ages 4 to 11.
It’s situated in a modern building, but with a long history, in North London. The Primary is a happy and ambitious place to learn and work, with high aspirations for all pupils. Our governors, staff, families, and pupils all strive towards our core purpose: ensuring our children are happy and successful.
We take great pride in the arrangement of our curriculum, the foundations of which are built on embedding core knowledge in literacy and mathematics. A carefully structured curriculum ensures that our pupils attain the highest standards, leaving Year 6 with both strong attainment and progress from their starting points.
A strength of the Primary is the breadth of our curriculum. Our wider curriculum provides a structured and depth approach that delivers a challenging, broad and balanced curriculum. As a church Academy, we are committed to providing high-quality religious education. Furthermore, specialist teachers, often from the Secondary, work throughout the key stages to deliver Music, Physical Education, and Mandarin.
"Everyone knows everyone in this small, friendly school with different year groups playing together and parents who are involved. A really solid, well-planned education with plenty of extracurricular clubs and activities, creating articulate, thinking pupils who have been listened to and encouraged to engage in, and have meaningful conversations about, all their learning.”
SMMA Secondary School
St Mary Magdalene Academy is a Christian community of learning. We aim to nurture young people to become high achievers and to discover their vocation in the global society.
Rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2023, our secondary school is extremely proud of its academic reputation and our position as being the most oversubscribed school in Islington. We have around 200 students in each year group, all based in a beautiful, bright and modern building with great resources.
We believe that kindness, self-respect, tolerance and respect for our learning environment are fundamental to happiness and success, they sit at the heart of the Academy’s ethos and are an important aspect of our on-going academic success.
Ofsted noted: ‘Pupils are very proud of their school. They describe it as a kind and welcoming place that promotes a keen sense of family, community and inclusion. Pupils and adults share a mutual respect. Pupils report that there is always an adult on hand to help. They say prejudice of any kind is not tolerated.
They feel and are kept safe.Staff have consistently high standards for pupils’ learning and conduct. Pupils rise to these expectations. Around the school pupils behave respectfully to one another, adults and visitors. Lessons are industrious and purposeful. This is because learning proceeds without disruption. The curriculum is ambitious. Pupils, and students in the sixth form, work hard and produce work of high quality.’
SMMA Sixth Form
St Mary Magdalene Academy Sixth Form is Ofsted-rated Outstanding.
With around 300 students across Year 12 and Year 13, the Sixth Form offers 23 A Level options. It’s academically selective and highly successful, and our students describe the atmosphere as ‘warm and family-like’.
SMMA Sixth-form students develop independent approaches to learning. They understand what qualifications they need and they feel very well supported to pursue their career aspirations. Ofsted
