Established in 1520 as Hackney Free School, in 1722, it joined with a parochialcharity school to form Hackney Free and Parochial School. The school moved to its present location after 1856., and was significantly rebuilt and expanded, being renamed in 2011 as The Urswick School.[2]
In 2021, The Guardian reported that the Urswick School is "the most disadvantaged secondary school in London and the fifth most disadvantaged in England".[4]