The Deanes
Daws Heath Road, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 2TD
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SOUTH EAST ESSEX ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Desi McKeown
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- South East Essex Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Castle Point
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 600
- Pupils on roll
- 588
- URN
- 143639
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01268773545
About this school
The Deanes is a secondary academy in Benfleet. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 588 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected The Deanes, 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
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 81 | 97 | 104 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.6 | 35.3 | 34.4 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.46 -0.77 to -0.15 | -0.71 -0.99 to -0.42 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28% | 18.6% | 17.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 43% | 45.4% | 40.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 2% | 3.1% | 19.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.8 |
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 Deanes 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 | 37.6 | 43.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 35.3 | 41.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 34.4 | 42.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.1% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 507 |
| 2023/24 | 526 |
| 2024/25 | 587 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Deanes compares
The Deanes ranked 75th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 26% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 34.4 | 11.5% | 32% | 588 | — |
| The King John School | 49.6 | 5.9% | 16% | 2,098 | 0.8 miles |
| The FitzWimarc School | 45.2 | 7.6% | 15.2% | 1,770 | 1.6 miles |
| The Sweyne Park School | 44 | 7.8% | 19.9% | 1,429 | 1.9 miles |
| The Appleton School | 39.6 | 10.6% | 20.1% | 1,597 | 2.0 miles |
| Belfairs Academy | 45.5 | 8.6% | 21.1% | 1,558 | 2.1 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 32.03%
- English as an additional language
- 2%
- Overall absence
- 11.5%
- Persistent absence
- 32.56%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The King John School0.8 miles
Secondary · Benfleet
-
The FitzWimarc School1.6 miles
Secondary · Rayleigh
-
The Sweyne Park School1.9 miles
Secondary · Rayleigh
-
The Appleton School2.0 miles
Secondary · Benfleet
-
Belfairs Academy2.1 miles
Secondary · Leigh-on-Sea
Other schools in Benfleet
- The Appleton School Secondary
- The King John School 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 Deanes teach?
- The Deanes teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Benfleet.
- Who is the headteacher of The Deanes?
- The headteacher of The Deanes is Mr Desi McKeown, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has The Deanes been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Deanes, 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 Deanes?
- The Deanes has 588 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Deanes full?
- The Deanes has capacity for 600 pupils and 588 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The Deanes a faith school?
- No. The Deanes has no designated religious character.
- Is The Deanes a selective school?
- No. The Deanes is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is The Deanes part of an academy trust?
- The Deanes is part of SOUTH EAST ESSEX ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have The Deanes's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37.6 in 2022/23 and 34.4 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 Deanes compare with other schools in Essex?
- The Deanes ranked 75th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 26% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 4% 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 Deanes's absence rate?
- The Deanes's overall absence rate is 11.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Deanes's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Deanes'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 10 July 2026.