The King John School
Shipwrights Drive, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 1RQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- ZENITH MULTI ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Daniel Steel
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Zenith Multi Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Castle Point
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 2,000
- Pupils on roll
- 2,098
- URN
- 136577
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01702558284
About this school
The King John School is a secondary academy in Benfleet. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 2,098 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected The King John School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Strong standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Strong standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Strong standard
- Leadership and governance
- Strong standard
- Post-16 provision
- Strong standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 333 | 345 | 324 |
| Attainment 8 score | 51.8 | 51.3 | 49.6 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.15 0.00 to +0.30 | +0.19 +0.04 to +0.34 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 55% | 55.7% | 50.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 75% | 78.3% | 75.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 53% | 58% | 50.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.3 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The King John School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Essex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 51.8 | 43.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 51.3 | 41.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 49.6 | 42.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 5.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 2,052 |
| 2023/24 | 2,094 |
| 2024/25 | 2,108 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The King John School compares
The King John School ranked 17th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 74% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 49.6 | 5.9% | 16% | 2,098 | — |
| The Deanes | 34.4 | 11.5% | 32% | 588 | 0.8 miles |
| The Appleton School | 39.6 | 10.6% | 20.1% | 1,597 | 1.9 miles |
| Belfairs Academy | 45.5 | 8.6% | 21.1% | 1,558 | 2.0 miles |
| The Cornelius Vermuyden School | — | — | — | — | 2.3 miles |
| Castle View School | 36 | 8.5% | 31% | 1,098 | 2.4 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report20 January 2026
- 7 July 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 15.98%
- English as an additional language
- 2.8%
- Overall absence
- 5.94%
- Persistent absence
- 14.06%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Deanes0.8 miles
Secondary · Benfleet
-
The Appleton School1.9 miles
Secondary · Benfleet
-
Belfairs Academy2.0 miles
Secondary · Leigh-on-Sea
-
The Cornelius Vermuyden School2.3 miles
Secondary · Canvey Island
-
Castle View School2.4 miles
Secondary · Canvey Island
Other schools in Benfleet
- The Appleton School Secondary
- The Deanes Secondary
- Hadleigh Infant and Nursery School Primary
- Hadleigh Junior School Primary
- Holy Family Catholic Primary School Primary
- Jotmans Hall Primary School Primary
- Kents Hill Infant Academy Primary
- Kents Hill Junior School Primary
- Montgomerie Primary School Primary
- South Benfleet Primary School Primary
- The Robert Drake Primary School Primary
- Thundersley Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does The King John School teach?
- The King John School teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Benfleet.
- Who is the headteacher of The King John School?
- The headteacher of The King John School is Mr Daniel Steel, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has The King John School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The King John School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at The King John School?
- The King John School has 2,098 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is The King John School full?
- The King John School has capacity for 2,000 pupils and 2,098 on roll (105%), so it is at or above its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The King John School a faith school?
- No. The King John School has no designated religious character.
- Is The King John School a selective school?
- No. The King John School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is The King John School part of an academy trust?
- The King John School is part of ZENITH MULTI ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The King John School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 51.8 in 2022/23 and 49.6 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The King John School compare with other schools in Essex?
- The King John School ranked 17th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 74% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 40% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The King John School's absence rate?
- The King John School's overall absence rate is 5.9% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The King John School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The King John School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
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. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.