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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 County High School for Girls Colchester · 191 entries 100%
  2. 2 Chelmsford County High School for Girls Chelmsford · 179 entries 100%
  3. 3 King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford Chelmsford · 150 entries 100%
  4. 4 Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester · 128 entries 100%
  5. 5 Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School Brentwood · 166 entries 95%
  6. 6 The Beaulieu Park School Chelmsford · 178 entries 88%
  7. 7 St Benedict's Catholic College Colchester · 180 entries 87%
  8. 8 Saffron Walden County High School Saffron Walden · 299 entries 87%
  9. 9 Becket Keys Church of England Free School Brentwood · 158 entries 85%
  10. 10 Moulsham High School Chelmsford · 259 entries 85%
  11. 11 Davenant Foundation School Loughton · 182 entries 85%
  12. 12 The Gilberd School Colchester · 305 entries 84%
  13. 13 Anglo European School Ingatestone · 235 entries 83%
  14. 14 Lift Greensward Hockley · 269 entries 81%
  15. 15 Beauchamps High School Wickford · 238 entries 81%
  16. 16 St John Payne Catholic School, Chelmsford Chelmsford · 186 entries 81%
  17. 17 Great Baddow High School Chelmsford · 248 entries 80%
  18. 18 The King John School Benfleet · 322 entries 79%
  19. 19 Manningtree High School Manningtree · 185 entries 77%
  20. 20 Mayflower High School Billericay · 266 entries 76%
  21. 21 Helena Romanes School Great Dunmow · 209 entries 76%
  22. 22 Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form Braintree · 220 entries 75%
  23. 23 St Martin's School Brentwood Brentwood · 248 entries 75%
  24. 24 West Hatch High School Chigwell · 249 entries 75%
  25. 25 The Sandon School Chelmsford · 208 entries 75%
  26. 26 Honywood School Colchester · 136 entries 74%
  27. 27 Epping St John's Church of England School Epping · 158 entries 74%
  28. 28 Debden Park High School Loughton · 179 entries 74%
  29. 29 The Boswells School Chelmsford · 238 entries 73%
  30. 30 Forest Hall School Stansted Mountfitchet · 74 entries 73%
  31. 31 The Sweyne Park School Rayleigh · 240 entries 73%
  32. 32 William de Ferrers School Chelmsford · 214 entries 73%
  33. 33 The Billericay School Billericay · 262 entries 73%
  34. 34 The Stanway School Colchester · 269 entries 73%
  35. 35 The FitzWimarc School Rayleigh · 284 entries 73%
  36. 36 Roding Valley High School Loughton · 232 entries 72%
  37. 37 St Mark's West Essex Catholic School Harlow · 166 entries 72%
  38. 38 Brentwood County High School Brentwood · 142 entries 72%
  39. 39 Chelmer Valley High School Chelmsford · 194 entries 72%
  40. 40 Ormiston Rivers Academy Burnham-on-Crouch · 170 entries 71%
  41. 41 Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport Saffron Walden · 177 entries 70%
  42. 42 Burnt Mill Academy Harlow · 169 entries 68%
  43. 43 Colne Community School Colchester · 241 entries 68%
  44. 44 Thurstable School Colchester · 201 entries 68%
  45. 45 Philip Morant School and College Colchester · 312 entries 67%
  46. 46 Alec Hunter Academy Braintree · 206 entries 66%
  47. 47 St Helena School Colchester · 203 entries 66%
  48. 48 The Ramsey Academy, Halstead Halstead · 147 entries 66%
  49. 49 Shenfield High School Brentwood · 233 entries 66%
  50. 50 Plume School Maldon · 282 entries 66%
  51. 51 De La Salle School Basildon · 151 entries 66%
  52. 52 The Ongar Academy Ongar · 107 entries 64%
  53. 53 The Appleton School Benfleet · 284 entries 64%
  54. 54 The Thomas Lord Audley School Colchester · 166 entries 64%
  55. 55 Sir Frederick Gibberd College Harlow · 112 entries 63%
  56. 56 Hedingham School and Sixth Form Halstead · 188 entries 62%
  57. 57 Woodlands School Basildon · 290 entries 60%
  58. 58 Lift Tendring Frinton-on-Sea · 292 entries 60%
  59. 59 Lift Maltings Witham · 165 entries 59%
  60. 60 Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow Harlow · 206 entries 59%
  61. 61 Tabor Academy Braintree · 148 entries 58%
  62. 62 Clacton County High School Clacton-on-Sea · 274 entries 58%
  63. 63 Paxman Academy Colchester · 175 entries 58%
  64. 64 Mark Hall Academy Harlow · 137 entries 57%
  65. 65 The King Edmund School Rochford · 234 entries 57%
  66. 66 King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy Waltham Abbey · 132 entries 57%
  67. 67 Lift New Rickstones Witham · 172 entries 56%
  68. 68 The Bromfords School Wickford · 191 entries 55%
  69. 69 Harwich and Dovercourt High School Harwich · 214 entries 55%
  70. 70 Colchester Academy Colchester · 200 entries 54%
  71. 71 Hylands School Chelmsford · 90 entries 52%
  72. 72 The James Hornsby School Basildon · 194 entries 52%
  73. 73 The Deanes Benfleet · 101 entries 50%
  74. 74 Passmores Academy Harlow · 224 entries 48%
  75. 75 The Cornelius Vermuyden School Canvey Island · 148 entries 43%
  76. 76 The Basildon Upper Academy Basildon · 288 entries 39%
  77. 77 Castle View School Canvey Island · 167 entries 38%
  78. 78 Lift Clacton Clacton on Sea · 244 entries 37%
  79. 79 Bmat Stem Academy Harlow · 85 entries 33%
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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.