Sir Frederick Gibberd College
Tendring Road, Harlow, CM18 6RN
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- BMAT EDUCATION
- Headteacher
- Ms Jo Doyle
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- BMAT Education
- Constituency
- Harlow
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 800
- Pupils on roll
- 880
- URN
- 143697
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01279307235
About this school
Sir Frederick Gibberd College is a secondary academy in Harlow. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 880 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Sir Frederick Gibberd College, 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 did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Sixth form
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 116 | 112 |
| Attainment 8 score | 46.2 | 44.0 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.09 -0.36 to +0.18 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 47.4% | 43.8% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 70.7% | 63.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 41.4% | 48.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.1 | 4.1 |
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 Sir Frederick Gibberd College 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 | — | 43.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 46.2 | 41.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44 | 42.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 652 |
| 2023/24 | 779 |
| 2024/25 | 843 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Sir Frederick Gibberd College compares
Sir Frederick Gibberd College ranked 43rd of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44 | 8.8% | 29% | 880 | — |
| St Mark's West Essex Catholic School | 46.3 | 6.7% | 22.1% | 1,099 | 0.4 miles |
| Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow | 38.9 | 11.5% | 36.6% | 978 | 0.6 miles |
| Bmat Stem Academy | 28.1 | 14.3% | 38.7% | 240 | 0.7 miles |
| Passmores Academy | 34.8 | 11.7% | 31.9% | 1,199 | 1.1 miles |
| Burnt Mill Academy | 45.2 | 8.6% | 31.3% | 959 | 1.3 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)
- 29.01%
- English as an additional language
- 19.5%
- Overall absence
- 8.77%
- Persistent absence
- 22.87%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Mark's West Essex Catholic School0.4 miles
Secondary · Harlow
-
Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow0.6 miles
Secondary · Harlow
-
Bmat Stem Academy0.7 miles
Secondary · Harlow
-
Passmores Academy1.1 miles
Secondary · Harlow
-
Burnt Mill Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Harlow
Other schools in Harlow
Sir Frederick Gibberd College ranks 3rd of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Harlow.
- Bmat Stem Academy Secondary
- Burnt Mill Academy Secondary
- Mark Hall Academy Secondary
- Passmores Academy Secondary
- St Mark's West Essex Catholic School Secondary
- Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow Secondary
- Abbotsweld Primary Academy Primary
- Church Langley Community Primary School Primary
- Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harlow Primary
- Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery Primary
- Freshwaters Primary Academy Primary
- Hare Street Community Primary School and Nursery Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Sir Frederick Gibberd College teach?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Harlow.
- Who is the headteacher of Sir Frederick Gibberd College?
- The headteacher of Sir Frederick Gibberd College is Ms Jo Doyle, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Sir Frederick Gibberd College been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Sir Frederick Gibberd College, 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 Sir Frederick Gibberd College?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College has 880 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is Sir Frederick Gibberd College full?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College has capacity for 800 pupils and 880 on roll (110%), 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 Sir Frederick Gibberd College a faith school?
- No. Sir Frederick Gibberd College has no designated religious character.
- Is Sir Frederick Gibberd College a selective school?
- No. Sir Frederick Gibberd College is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Sir Frederick Gibberd College part of an academy trust?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College is part of BMAT EDUCATION. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Sir Frederick Gibberd College's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 46.2 in 2023/24 and 44 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Sir Frederick Gibberd College compare with other schools in Essex?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College ranked 43rd of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 53% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 13% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Sir Frederick Gibberd College's absence rate?
- Sir Frederick Gibberd College's overall absence rate is 8.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Sir Frederick Gibberd College's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Sir Frederick Gibberd College'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.