Southchurch High School
Southchurch Boulevard, Southend-On-Sea, SS2 4XA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- PARTNERSHIP LEARNING
- Headteacher
- Mrs Tracy Airoll
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Partnership Learning
- Constituency
- Southend East and Rochford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 840
- Pupils on roll
- 722
- URN
- 143144
- Local authority
- Southend-on-Sea
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01702900777
About this school
Southchurch High School is a secondary academy in Southend-on-Sea. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 722 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit 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
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 152 | 158 | 148 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.5 | 34.2 | 38.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.81 -1.04 to -0.58 | -0.72 -0.95 to -0.49 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 23% | 13.3% | 23.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 45% | 35.4% | 48.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 57% | 47.5% | 32.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.2 | 2.7 | 3.2 |
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 Southchurch High 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 | Southend-on-Sea average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 37.5 | 48.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 34.2 | 43.7 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 38.7 | 45.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.7% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 794 |
| 2023/24 | 794 |
| 2024/25 | 805 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Southchurch High School compares
Southchurch High School ranked 10th of 12 secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 38.7 | 11% | 45% | 722 | — |
| Southend High School for Girls | 75 | 5.2% | 9.2% | 1,312 | 0.2 miles |
| Cecil Jones Academy | 35.1 | 10.2% | 48.2% | 1,159 | 1.1 miles |
| Shoeburyness High School | 37.6 | 11.2% | 37% | 1,713 | 1.3 miles |
| St Bernard's High School | 54.9 | 5.2% | 17.4% | 1,001 | 2.2 miles |
| Southend High School for Boys | 73.8 | 4.4% | 7.5% | 1,332 | 2.5 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 report24 March 2026
- 15 November 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 44.97%
- English as an additional language
- 17%
- Overall absence
- 10.97%
- Persistent absence
- 33.21%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Southend High School for Girls0.2 miles
Secondary · Southend-on-Sea
-
Cecil Jones Academy1.1 miles
Secondary · Southend-on-Sea
-
Shoeburyness High School1.3 miles
Secondary · Southend-on-Sea
-
St Bernard's High School2.2 miles
Secondary · Westcliff-on-Sea
-
Southend High School for Boys2.5 miles
Secondary · Southend-on-Sea
Other schools in Southend-on-Sea
Southchurch High School ranks 3rd of the 5 ranked secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea.
- Cecil Jones Academy Secondary
- Shoeburyness High School Secondary
- Southend High School for Boys Secondary
- Southend High School for Girls Secondary
- Barling Magna Primary Academy Primary
- Bournemouth Park Academy Primary
- Bournes Green Infant School Primary
- Bournes Green Junior School Primary
- Friars Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Great Wakering Primary Academy Primary
- Greenways Primary School Primary
- Hamstel Infant School and Nursery Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Southchurch High School teach?
- Southchurch High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Southend-on-Sea.
- Who is the headteacher of Southchurch High School?
- The headteacher of Southchurch High School is Mrs Tracy Airoll, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Southchurch High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Southchurch High 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 big is Southchurch High School?
- Southchurch High School has 722 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Southchurch High School full?
- Southchurch High School has capacity for 840 pupils and 722 on roll (86%), so it has space against 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 Southchurch High School a faith school?
- No. Southchurch High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Southchurch High School a selective school?
- No. Southchurch High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Southchurch High School?
- Southchurch High School is part of PARTNERSHIP LEARNING. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Southchurch High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37.5 in 2022/23 and 38.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Southchurch High School rank locally?
- Southchurch High School ranked 10th of 12 secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 34% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Southchurch High School's absence rate?
- Southchurch High School's overall absence rate is 11% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Southchurch High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Southchurch High 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 2 July 2026.