Colne Community School
Church Road, Brightlingsea, Colchester, CO7 0QL
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- THE SIGMA TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Neil Gallagher
- Sponsor
- The Sigma Trust
- Constituency
- Harwich and North Essex
- Setting
- Larger rural: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,540
- Pupils on roll
- 1,289
- URN
- 146795
- Local authority
- Essex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01206303511
About this school
Colne Community School is a secondary academy in Colchester. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,289 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
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 | 237 | 246 | 242 |
| Attainment 8 score | 47.2 | 45.5 | 43.0 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.04 -0.14 to +0.22 | -0.08 -0.26 to +0.09 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 47% | 44.3% | 39.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 68% | 67.5% | 62.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 46% | 47.2% | 24.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
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 Colne Community 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 | 47.2 | 43.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 45.5 | 41.6 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43 | 42.2 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.5% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.5% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,243 |
| 2023/24 | 1,255 |
| 2024/25 | 1,283 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Colne Community School compares
Colne Community School ranked 45th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% 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 | 43 | 8.5% | 20.9% | 1,289 | — |
| Lift Clacton | 30 | 18.4% | 57% | 1,466 | 5.3 miles |
| The Thomas Lord Audley School | 42.3 | 7.6% | 35.7% | 940 | 6.1 miles |
| Clacton County High School | 38.6 | 9.9% | 35.5% | 1,886 | 6.2 miles |
| Colchester Academy | 38.5 | 13.9% | 44.1% | 879 | 6.2 miles |
| Colchester Royal Grammar School | 82.1 | 5.4% | 6.6% | 1,073 | 7.3 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)
- 20.89%
- English as an additional language
- 3.7%
- Overall absence
- 8.53%
- Persistent absence
- 22.5%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Lift Clacton5.3 miles
Secondary · Clacton on Sea
-
The Thomas Lord Audley School6.1 miles
Secondary · Colchester
-
Clacton County High School6.2 miles
Secondary · Clacton-on-Sea
-
Colchester Academy6.2 miles
Secondary · Colchester
-
Colchester Royal Grammar School7.3 miles
Secondary · Colchester
Other schools in Colchester
Colne Community School ranks 10th of the 14 ranked secondary schools in Colchester.
- Colchester Academy Secondary
- Colchester County High School for Girls Secondary
- Colchester Royal Grammar School Secondary
- East Bergholt High School Secondary
- Honywood School Secondary
- Paxman Academy Secondary
- Philip Morant School and College Secondary
- St Benedict's Catholic College Secondary
- St Helena School Secondary
- The Gilberd School Secondary
- The Stanway School Secondary
- The Thomas Lord Audley School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Colne Community School teach?
- Colne Community School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Colchester.
- Who is the headteacher of Colne Community School?
- The headteacher of Colne Community School is Mr Neil Gallagher, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Colne Community School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Colne Community 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 Colne Community School?
- Colne Community School has 1,289 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Colne Community School full?
- Colne Community School has capacity for 1,540 pupils and 1,289 on roll (84%), 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 Colne Community School a faith school?
- No. Colne Community School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs Colne Community School?
- Colne Community School is part of THE SIGMA TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Colne Community School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 47.2 in 2022/23 and 43 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Colne Community School rank locally?
- Colne Community School ranked 45th of 78 secondary schools in Essex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 49% 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 Colne Community School's absence rate?
- Colne Community School's overall absence rate is 8.5% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Colne Community School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Colne Community 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 10 July 2026.