Richard de Clare Community Academy
Parsonage Street, Halstead, CO9 2JT
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 3 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- BRIDGE ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mrs Jodie Evans
- Nursery provision
- Has Nursery Classes
- Sponsor
- Bridge Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Braintree
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 466
- Pupils on roll
- 370
- URN
- 143204
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01787472153
About this school
Richard de Clare Community Academy is a primary academy in Halstead. It teaches children aged 3 to 11 and has 370 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. 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
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Early years
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 47 | 55 | 46 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 55% | 40% | 48% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 2% | 5% | 2% |
| Expected standard in reading | 77% | 69% | 72% |
| Expected standard in maths | 68% | 53% | 65% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 77% | 60% | 59% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 105.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 102.0 | 102.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.50 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.50 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.30 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Richard de Clare Community Academy 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 | 55% | 58.9% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 40% | 59.5% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 48% | 60.7% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 7.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 359 |
| 2023/24 | 360 |
| 2024/25 | 364 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Richard de Clare Community Academy compares
Richard de Clare Community Academy ranked 331st of 388 primary schools in Essex for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 19% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48% | 6.9% | 33.4% | 370 | — |
| Holy Trinity Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Halstead | 60% | 6.5% | 22% | 210 | 0.4 miles |
| St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Halstead | 82% | 4.5% | 15.9% | 211 | 0.6 miles |
| Gosfield Community Primary School | 35% | 5.7% | 6.3% | 134 | 2.1 miles |
| Colne Engaine Church of England Primary School | 28% | 5.6% | 4.8% | 88 | 2.4 miles |
| St Giles' Church of England Primary School | 67% | 5.5% | 11.6% | 91 | 2.7 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 report2 June 2026
- 15 March 2022
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 33.43%
- English as an additional language
- 14.3%
- Overall absence
- 6.85%
- Persistent absence
- 19.18%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Holy Trinity Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Halstead0.4 miles
Primary · Halstead
-
St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Halstead0.6 miles
Primary · Halstead
-
Gosfield Community Primary School2.1 miles
Primary · Halstead
- 2.4 miles
-
St Giles' Church of England Primary School2.7 miles
Primary · Halstead
Other schools in Halstead
Richard de Clare Community Academy ranks 10th of the 11 ranked primary schools in Halstead.
- de Vere Primary School Primary
- Gosfield Community Primary School Primary
- Holy Trinity Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Halstead Primary
- Ridgewell Church of England Primary School Primary
- St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Great Yeldham Primary
- St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Halstead Primary
- St Giles' Church of England Primary School Primary
- St John the Baptist Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School Pebmarsh Primary
- St Margaret's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Toppesfield Primary
- St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Sible Hedingham Primary
- Hedingham School and Sixth Form Secondary
- The Ramsey Academy, Halstead Secondary
Recorded changes at this school
Previous headteacher: Miss Lucinda Bellett (until September 2026).
- Headteacher changed from Miss Lucinda Bellett to Mrs Jodie Evans recorded 11 Sep 2026
Common questions
- What year groups does Richard de Clare Community Academy teach?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy teaches children aged 3 to 11. It is a primary school in Halstead.
- Who is the headteacher of Richard de Clare Community Academy?
- The headteacher of Richard de Clare Community Academy is Mrs Jodie Evans, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Richard de Clare Community Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Richard de Clare Community Academy, 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 Richard de Clare Community Academy?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy has 370 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 3 to 11.
- Is Richard de Clare Community Academy full?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy has capacity for 466 pupils and 370 on roll (79%), 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 Richard de Clare Community Academy a faith school?
- No. Richard de Clare Community Academy has no designated religious character.
- Does Richard de Clare Community Academy have a nursery?
- Yes. The schools register records Richard de Clare Community Academy as having nursery classes.
- Who runs Richard de Clare Community Academy?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy is part of BRIDGE ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Richard de Clare Community Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 55% in 2022/23 and 48% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Richard de Clare Community Academy rank locally?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy ranked 331st of 388 primary schools in Essex for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 19% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Richard de Clare Community Academy's absence rate?
- Richard de Clare Community Academy's overall absence rate is 6.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Richard de Clare Community Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Richard de Clare Community Academy'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 11 September 2026.