New data has revealed the best and worst secondary schools across Essex for 2025.
The Department for Education (DfE) has released its annual secondary school performance tables for 2024/25.
This shows how well schools across England performed at the end of Key Stage 4 and includes performance measures for every secondary school in England.
Here is how schools in the Essex local authority stacked up this year.
Best and worst secondary schools in Essex for 2025
There were 97 schools across Essex ranked for their overall performance at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2025.
All schools on the list are under the local authority of Essex; however, there was no data available or applicable for some schools.
Schools listed were ranked on an 'Attainment 8' score.
This is based on how well pupils in a school have performed in up to eight qualifications, which include English, maths, three English Baccalaureate qualifications including sciences, computer science, history, geography and languages, and three other additional approved qualifications.
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Attainment measures show how pupils have performed in tests and assessments, but do not take pupils’ starting points into account.
Schools on the list include:
- Academy - government-funded but run by an academy trust rather than a local authority
- Special school - schools that specialise in educating pupils with special educational needs
- Independent school - privately funded
- Maintained school - government-funded and run by a local authority
Topping the list was the King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, followed by the Colchester Royal Grammar School and Chelmsford County High School for Girls.
Here is the full list of the secondary schools in Essex based on the Attainment 8 score:
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The DfE said it is important to note that it was not able to calculate Progress 8 scores for academic years 2024/25 and 2025/26.
This is because there is no KS2 assessment data available to calculate the baseline for Progress 8 for these years due to Covid-19 disruption.
It added: "Pupils included in this performance data will have experienced some disruption due to Covid-19 earlier in their schooling, which will have affected individual pupils and schools differently."
