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State secondary schools in Essex

81 schools · East of England · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Essex has 81 state secondaries, 52 of them with sixth forms, 4 grammar schools among them. 83.4% of families got their first choice last year, about the national picture. Results run from 15% to 100% passing English and maths, a spread of 85 points, with a middle school at 42%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 6 rated Outstanding, 49 Good, 9 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate. 15 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

Southend-on-Sea
81 schools in Essex. Tap one, or see the full list. Southend-on-Sea is a separate council, marked on the map.
15% 100% passed English & maths no figure

Essex against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

43%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

2.3% below England

England 45%

45.1

Attainment 8 average score

in line with England

England 46.1

21%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

in line with England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Essex

83.4%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

94.9%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0.1%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

14%

Appeals upheld57 of 406 heard

These are figures for Essex as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Essex's 79 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 15% to 100%. That is a spread of 85 percentage points, wider than most councils.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Essex schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathsenglish literatureenglish languagehistorygeographycombined scienceartphysicschemistrybiologycomputer sciencefrenchbusiness studiesphysical educationspanishreligious studiesmedia studiesdesign technology
  1. 1 Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester · 23 entries 100%
  2. 2 Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School Brentwood · 137 entries 87%
  3. 3 Saffron Walden County High School Saffron Walden · 237 entries 85%
  4. 4 Becket Keys Church of England Free School Brentwood · 112 entries 78%
  5. 5 Anglo European School Ingatestone · 176 entries 77%
  6. 6 St Benedict's Catholic College Colchester · 123 entries 77%
  7. 7 Moulsham High School Chelmsford · 176 entries 76%
  8. 8 The Beaulieu Park School Chelmsford · 121 entries 76%
  9. 9 The Boswells School Chelmsford · 191 entries 73%
  10. 10 The Gilberd School Colchester · 238 entries 72%
  11. 11 Lift Greensward Hockley · 204 entries 68%
  12. 12 Manningtree High School Manningtree · 137 entries 66%
  13. 13 St John Payne Catholic School, Chelmsford Chelmsford · 135 entries 66%
  14. 14 Davenant Foundation School Loughton · 111 entries 66%
  15. 15 St Martin's School Brentwood Brentwood · 209 entries 65%
  16. 16 The Stanway School Colchester · 233 entries 64%
  17. 17 The Billericay School Billericay · 200 entries 64%
  18. 18 The Sandon School Chelmsford · 149 entries 62%
  19. 19 Lift New Rickstones Witham · 143 entries 62%
  20. 20 Alec Hunter Academy Braintree · 173 entries 61%
  21. 21 Colne Community School Colchester · 215 entries 60%
  22. 22 The Sweyne Park School Rayleigh · 209 entries 60%
  23. 23 St Helena School Colchester · 163 entries 60%
  24. 24 The King John School Benfleet · 260 entries 60%
  25. 25 Beauchamps High School Wickford · 200 entries 59%
  26. 26 The Thomas Lord Audley School Colchester · 151 entries 58%
  27. 27 St Mark's West Essex Catholic School Harlow · 124 entries 58%
  28. 28 Epping St John's Church of England School Epping · 119 entries 58%
  29. 29 Mayflower High School Billericay · 216 entries 58%
  30. 30 Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport Saffron Walden · 138 entries 57%
  31. 31 Burnt Mill Academy Harlow · 148 entries 56%
  32. 32 The James Hornsby School Basildon · 179 entries 56%
  33. 33 Helena Romanes School Great Dunmow · 163 entries 56%
  34. 34 Philip Morant School and College Colchester · 251 entries 56%
  35. 35 Honywood School Colchester · 92 entries 55%
  36. 36 William de Ferrers School Chelmsford · 179 entries 55%
  37. 37 Great Baddow High School Chelmsford · 124 entries 54%
  38. 38 Chelmer Valley High School Chelmsford · 140 entries 52%
  39. 39 Debden Park High School Loughton · 122 entries 52%
  40. 40 Brentwood County High School Brentwood · 106 entries 51%
  41. 41 Thurstable School Colchester · 152 entries 50%
  42. 42 Bmat Stem Academy Harlow · 66 entries 50%
  43. 43 Paxman Academy Colchester · 133 entries 49%
  44. 44 Forest Hall School Stansted Mountfitchet · 64 entries 47%
  45. 45 Roding Valley High School Loughton · 163 entries 47%
  46. 46 Woodlands School Basildon · 228 entries 46%
  47. 47 Sir Frederick Gibberd College Harlow · 83 entries 46%
  48. 48 The Deanes Benfleet · 87 entries 45%
  49. 49 Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow Harlow · 145 entries 44%
  50. 50 Shenfield High School Brentwood · 141 entries 44%
  51. 51 The Appleton School Benfleet · 230 entries 43%
  52. 52 Ormiston Rivers Academy Burnham-on-Crouch · 136 entries 43%
  53. 53 Tabor Academy Braintree · 123 entries 43%
  54. 54 The Ramsey Academy, Halstead Halstead · 92 entries 42%
  55. 55 Mark Hall Academy Harlow · 116 entries 42%
  56. 56 Hylands School Chelmsford · 67 entries 42%
  57. 57 Clacton County High School Clacton-on-Sea · 212 entries 41%
  58. 58 Colchester Academy Colchester · 167 entries 41%
  59. 59 Hedingham School and Sixth Form Halstead · 134 entries 40%
  60. 60 Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form Braintree · 176 entries 39%
  61. 61 Lift Maltings Witham · 122 entries 39%
  62. 62 Passmores Academy Harlow · 178 entries 38%
  63. 63 De La Salle School Basildon · 99 entries 37%
  64. 64 Castle View School Canvey Island · 156 entries 37%
  65. 65 The King Edmund School Rochford · 170 entries 34%
  66. 66 Lift Tendring Frinton-on-Sea · 254 entries 33%
  67. 67 King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy Waltham Abbey · 93 entries 32%
  68. 68 Plume School Maldon · 100 entries 32%
  69. 69 Harwich and Dovercourt High School Harwich · 182 entries 32%
  70. 70 The Basildon Upper Academy Basildon · 277 entries 31%
  71. 71 The FitzWimarc School Rayleigh · 135 entries 30%
  72. 72 The Bromfords School Wickford · 133 entries 27%
  73. 73 The Cornelius Vermuyden School Canvey Island · 138 entries 26%
  74. 74 The Ongar Academy Ongar · 82 entries 26%
  75. 75 Lift Clacton Clacton on Sea · 178 entries 24%
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Every school in Essex

Southend-on-Sea sits inside Essex but runs its own admissions as a separate local authority, so its schools are not in this list.

12 of 80 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Essex

48 of Essex's 52 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Essex

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Cambridgeshire 35 schools · 50% passed English & mathsEnfield 21 schools · 46% passed English & mathsHavering 18 schools · 48% passed English & mathsHertfordshire 80 schools · 53% passed English & mathsRedbridge 19 schools · 60% passed English & mathsSouthend-on-Sea 12 schools · 57% passed English & mathsSuffolk 42 schools · 40% passed English & mathsThurrock 13 schools · 45% passed English & mathsWaltham Forest 17 schools · 46% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.