SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Halstead, Essex

Hedingham School and Sixth Form

Yeldham Road, Sible Hedingham, Halstead, Essex, CO9 3QH

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01787460470

Ofsted

Goodas at 3 March 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 3 March 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 3 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

39.9 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

27% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

53% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.2 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

6% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.27confidence interval -0.47 to -0.06

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as below 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
C
Average points per entry
28.4

England average 32.3

A level students
68

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1177
Places
1168
How full
Full — 1177 pupils against 1168 places
Girls / boys
591 / 586
Overall absence
10%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
27%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
16%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
1%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
22%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
95%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
90%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
47%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
193

After sixth form

Went to university
36%

England 50%

In education, work or training
86%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
7%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
86

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

6% 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
52%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
79

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 Braintree 003D, 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
28%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
72%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
14%

England 17%

Households with no car
9%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
41%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
HEDINGHAM SCHOOL AND SIXTH FORM
Headteacher
Headteacher: Paul Finch
Local authority
Essex
Ward
Hedingham
Constituency
Braintree
URN
139153

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Gosfield SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.8 mi
The Ramsey Academy, HalsteadAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.3 3.6 mi
Stour Valley Community SchoolFree schools Good 2023 44.5 6.6 mi
Tabor AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 38.5 7.2 mi
Ormiston Sudbury AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.6 7.5 mi
Thomas Gainsborough SchoolAcademy converter No grade 46.1 7.6 mi
Alec Hunter AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 45.7 7.8 mi
Notley High School and Braintree Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 44.9 8.4 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
Dorothy Stringer SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 53.3
Willingdon Community SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 45
The Queen Katherine SchoolAcademy converter No grade 48.8
East Barnet SchoolAcademy converter No grade 53
King Edward VI Five Ways SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 75.9
St Mark's West Essex Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 46.3
Tapton School & Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 58
Cobham Free SchoolFree schools Good 2023 53.1

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.