tutorperch
First Tutors closed Read guide

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 King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford Chelmsford · 150 entries 100%
  2. 2 The FitzWimarc School Rayleigh · 41 entries 100%
  3. 3 Chelmsford County High School for Girls Chelmsford · 56 entries 100%
  4. 4 Epping St John's Church of England School Epping · 31 entries 100%
  5. 5 Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester · 63 entries 100%
  6. 6 Colchester County High School for Girls Colchester · 190 entries 99%
  7. 7 The Gilberd School Colchester · 28 entries 93%
  8. 8 Helena Romanes School Great Dunmow · 24 entries 92%
  9. 9 St Benedict's Catholic College Colchester · 170 entries 91%
  10. 10 Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow Harlow · 27 entries 89%
  11. 11 West Hatch High School Chigwell · 23 entries 87%
  12. 12 St Helena School Colchester · 23 entries 87%
  13. 13 Saffron Walden County High School Saffron Walden · 126 entries 87%
  14. 14 Debden Park High School Loughton · 20 entries 85%
  15. 15 Lift Greensward Hockley · 23 entries 83%
  16. 16 Anglo European School Ingatestone · 23 entries 83%
  17. 17 Becket Keys Church of England Free School Brentwood · 155 entries 82%
  18. 18 Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School Brentwood · 166 entries 82%
  19. 19 The Stanway School Colchester · 41 entries 80%
  20. 20 Chelmer Valley High School Chelmsford · 51 entries 80%
  21. 21 Davenant Foundation School Loughton · 180 entries 78%
  22. 22 Beauchamps High School Wickford · 27 entries 78%
  23. 23 Philip Morant School and College Colchester · 21 entries 76%
  24. 24 Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form Braintree · 90 entries 76%
  25. 25 The Boswells School Chelmsford · 70 entries 74%
  26. 26 Paxman Academy Colchester · 23 entries 74%
  27. 27 Great Baddow High School Chelmsford · 30 entries 73%
  28. 28 Alec Hunter Academy Braintree · 29 entries 72%
  29. 29 St Mark's West Essex Catholic School Harlow · 158 entries 70%
  30. 30 St John Payne Catholic School, Chelmsford Chelmsford · 181 entries 70%
  31. 31 Manningtree High School Manningtree · 59 entries 68%
  32. 32 Mayflower High School Billericay · 210 entries 68%
  33. 33 St Martin's School Brentwood Brentwood · 48 entries 65%
  34. 34 Lift Tendring Frinton-on-Sea · 65 entries 63%
  35. 35 Mark Hall Academy Harlow · 69 entries 61%
  36. 36 Colne Community School Colchester · 26 entries 58%
  37. 37 The Sweyne Park School Rayleigh · 20 entries 55%
  38. 38 Tabor Academy Braintree · 135 entries 51%
  39. 39 De La Salle School Basildon · 138 entries 50%
  40. 40 Lift Clacton Clacton on Sea · 22 entries 50%
religious studies tutors

Parent guides

Thinking about a tutor?

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.