Secondary school in Colchester, Essex
Paxman Academy
Paxman Avenue, Colchester, Essex, CO2 9DB
Ofsted
Graded Good at its last graded inspection, on 6 February 2024.
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.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
On Attainment 8 this school is in the lower half of state-funded secondaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.
Progress 8 2023/24
Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as 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.
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 873
- Places
- 900
- How full
- Nearly full — 873 of 900 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 411 / 462
- Overall absence
- 8%
- Persistently absent
- 22%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 33%
- English as an additional language
- 15%
- With an EHC plan
- 4%
- On SEN support
- 13%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Colchester 015E, 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%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 18%
- Households owning their home
- 67%
- Households in social housing
- 21%
- Households with no car
- 14%
- Adults economically inactive
- 31%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- THE SIGMA TRUST
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Debbie Kershaw
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward
- Shrub End
- Constituency
- Colchester
- URN
- 147080
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philip Morant School and CollegeAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 44.5 | 0.6 mi |
| St Benedict's Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school | Good 2023 | 54.7 | 0.9 mi |
| Colchester County High School for GirlsAcademy converter | Outstanding 2023 | 80.6 | 0.9 mi |
| St Mary's School for GirlsOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.2 mi |
| Colchester Royal Grammar SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 82.1 | 1.2 mi |
| Colchester Prep & High SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.3 mi |
| The Stanway SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 48.2 | 1.4 mi |
| The Thomas Lord Audley SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 42.3 | 1.5 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.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Willowfield SchoolCommunity school | No grade | 46.1 |
| St Edmund's Catholic SchoolVoluntary aided school | Outstanding 2022 | 58.9 |
| Darwen Aldridge Community AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 36.5 |
| St Joseph's Catholic AcademyAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 45.5 |
| Samuel King's SchoolFoundation school | Good 2022 | 30.2 |
| Landau Forte Academy, AmingtonAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 40 |
| Herne Bay High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 36.8 |
| Minsthorpe Community CollegeAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 41.3 |
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.