Our History

The Emmanuel School Trust was established and incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in May 2011.

Children in school assembly

Following a successful bid to the Department for Education, the Trust opened the first Free School in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

Emmanuel Community School (ECS) opened to new students in September 2012 in temporary premises (Emmanuel Christian Centre, Walthamstow) before moving to its permanent site, The Drive, in Walthamstow, a year later.

ECS was assessed by OFSTED as “A good school with outstanding Leadership” in 2014 and subsequently confirmed as “Good” in 2018.

In 2017, an inspection of the school’s distinctiveness as a Christian school (SIAMS section 48) rated it as ‘Outstanding in ALL areas.’

Our history is documented in the book, ‘Stepping Out On The Promise: From Vision to Reality: A journey towards excellent education in a Christian context’, available to purchase on Amazon here.

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