SF School Facts UK

Girls selective secondary school in Colchester, Essex

Colchester County High School for Girls

Norman Way, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3US

Ofsted Outstanding · 2023 Selective Sixth form Girls Full
School website 01206576973

Ofsted

Outstandingas at 28 November 2023

Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 28 November 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

80.6 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

100% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

100% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

7.8 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

91% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the top 5% of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.99confidence interval 0.75 to 1.23

Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
A-
Average points per entry
45.3

England average 32.3

A level students
125

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1198
Places
1020
How full
Full — 1198 pupils against 1020 places
Overall absence
4%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
8%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
5%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
39%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
0%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
1%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
100%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
100%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
0%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
83%
No sustained destination
0%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
160

After sixth form

Went to university
75%

England 50%

In education, work or training
87%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
1%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
126

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

69% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
90%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
137

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Colchester 009D, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
47%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
11%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
76%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
8%

England 17%

Households with no car
14%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
44%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Girls
Admissions
Selective (entrance test)
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
ALPHA TRUST
Headteacher
Headteacher: Gillian Marshall
Local authority
Essex
Ward
Lexden and Braiswick
Constituency
Colchester
URN
137515

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
St Benedict's Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school Good 2023 54.7 0 mi
St Mary's School for GirlsOther independent school No grade 0.3 mi
Philip Morant School and CollegeAcademy converter Good 2023 44.5 0.3 mi
Colchester Royal Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 82.1 0.5 mi
Colchester Prep & High SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.7 mi
St Helena SchoolAcademy converter Good 2024 46 0.9 mi
Paxman AcademyFree schools Good 2024 41.3 0.9 mi
Holmwood House SchoolOther independent school No grade 1.4 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Kendrick SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2022 84
St Clement Danes SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2024 65.1
Weald of Kent Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for BoysCommunity school No grade 63.7
Tonbridge Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 77.2
Denmark Road High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 72.9
Poole Grammar SchoolAcademy converter No grade 70.2
The Hertfordshire & Essex High School and Science CollegeAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.6

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.