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Schools in the Essex local authority

Essex has 613 schools listed on OfferDay across 54 towns.

2 nursery schools · 444 primary schools · 79 secondary schools · 2 all-through schools · 6 sixth forms and colleges · 49 special and alternative provision schools · 29 independent schools · 2 other establishments

About schools in Essex

Essex lists 613 schools, most of them primary schools. Its 79 secondary schools are where families compare options once a child finishes primary. The area also has two all-through schools, which teach every age from the early years to school-leaving age on one site.

Ofsted inspects every school listed here. Its newer reports judge a school across several areas rather than giving one overall grade, while older reports still carry the previous single grade, so read the framework and the date on each page before you set two schools side by side. Where results have been published you will also find key stage 2 scores for the primary schools and Attainment 8 for the secondary schools. An inspection or a results table captures a school at one past moment, so use this page to draw up a shortlist and then visit.

Key stage 2, 2024/25
64%
of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, across the 406 schools with published results
Key stage 4, 2024/25
45.7
average Attainment 8 score, across the 86 schools with published results

Top schools in Essex

Ranked by the latest published results; primary and secondary schools are measured differently and never compared with each other.

Primary

  1. 1 Stambridge Primary School 100%
  2. 2 St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, South Weald 98%
  3. 3 St Peter's Catholic Primary School 96%
  4. 4 St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, Saffron Walden 94%
  5. 5 St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Burnham-on-Crouch 94%
  6. 6 Shenfield St. Mary's Church of England Primary School 93%
  7. 7 St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School, Colchester 93%
  8. 8 Perryfields Junior School 91%

Secondary

  1. 1 King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford 83.3
  2. 2 Colchester Royal Grammar School 82.1
  3. 3 Chelmsford County High School for Girls 80.7
  4. 4 Colchester County High School for Girls 80.6
  5. 5 Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School 61.0
  6. 6 Saffron Walden County High School 59.7
  7. 7 Moulsham High School 58.3
  8. 8 The Beaulieu Park School 57.1

Schools by town

The count beside each town is the number of its schools under Essex.

Schools not listed under a town

These schools have no town recorded in the national register.

Common questions about schools in Essex

How many schools does Essex have?
OfferDay lists 613 schools in Essex, including 444 primary schools and 79 secondary schools.
Who inspects schools in Essex?
Every school in Essex is inspected by Ofsted. Newer reports grade several areas of a school separately on a report card, while older reports carry a single overall grade, so check the framework and the date on each page before you compare two schools.
How are schools in Essex ranked?
OfferDay ranks schools in Essex where the Department for Education has published results, by key stage 2 scores for primary schools and Attainment 8 for secondary schools. The ranking links are near the top of this page. A results table only captures one part of a school, so use it to draw up a shortlist and then visit.
How many towns are in the Essex local authority?
OfferDay groups the Essex schools across 54 towns, listed in the schools-by-town section on this page. Any school with no town recorded in the national register is listed separately, grouped by phase, so every school in the local authority is reachable.

School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. Information on this page was last updated on 24 July 2026.