SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Harlow, Essex

Sir Frederick Gibberd College

Tendring Road, Harlow, Essex, CM18 6RN

Sixth form Full
School website 01279307235
Ofsted No grade December 2024
Attainment 8 44 in the lower half nationally
Chance of a place 100% of first choices offered
Local deprivation 5/10 mid-range

Ofsted

Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 3 December 2024.

This inspection did not give an overall grade. Read the report for Ofsted's findings; it cannot be compared as a single score with a historic grade.

Read the Ofsted report

Current published outcome
Report card — no overall grade
Last overall grade in this dataset
Not stored — this dataset keeps the latest inspection, which has no overall grade
Days since inspection
668 days
Framework era
Current framework (no overall grade)

These four fields describe the latest published inspection on this record. The dataset does not keep a previous inspection row, so a school inspected under the current framework will usually have no overall grade to show as “prior”.

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

44 England 47

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

Grade 5+ in English & maths

44% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

63% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.1 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

48% England 40.8%

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 middle, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.09confidence interval -0.36 to 0.18

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.

Getting a place 2026/27 entry

About as many first choices as places. Of the 123 families who named this school as their first choice, 100% were offered a place.

Places offered
138

for entry into Year 7

Named it first choice
123
First choices per place
0.89

England average 1.00

First choices offered a place
100%

England 88.5%

Demand has been broadly steady over three years.

These are offers made on national offer day for 2026/27 entry, from the local authority's co-ordinated admissions round. They exclude later movement — waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions — so a school shown as oversubscribed may still have places by September.

Oversubscription measures popularity, not quality, and the two are not the same thing: a school can be heavily oversubscribed because of its intake, its faith designation or simply because the nearest alternative is further away. We do not publish catchment maps, because catchments are not published: each admissions authority applies its own criteria afresh every year, and the distance that got a child in last year is not a boundary. Read the school's own admissions arrangements for the rules that will actually apply.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
880
Places
800
How full
Full — 880 pupils against 800 places
Girls / boys
403 / 477
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
23%

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

Free school meals, last 6 years
29%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
20%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
3%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
12%

England 15%

School funding 2025-26 financial year

Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release.

Evidence found
Not found for this URN in the 2025-26 release; this is not represented as £0.
Source coverage
DfE mainstream-school allocations for running costs for pupils aged 5-16, importer snapshot 23 August 2026.
What this means
The official mainstream allocation release does not provide a publishable row for this establishment.
What this does not mean
The school received no public funding or has no budget; other establishment types and funding streams use different publications.

Allocation is not expenditure. DfE says this release combines the schools block with several other revenue grants and excludes capital spending. Funding is shown for context and is never used in School Facts ordering, peer groups or quality claims. Source, licence and coverage.

Roads and getting there

Road casualties within 500m

Child pedestrian casualties
2

England average 1.6 — pedestrians under 16, over five years

All reported collisions
8

England average 24.2 over five years

Of those, serious or fatal
4

Public transport

Bus stops within 500m
4

England average 11.9

Nearest station
Harlow Town Rail Station

2.4 km away — railway station

Every collision reported to the police within 500m of the school over the five years to 2024, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe — counts rise with traffic and with how built up an area is, and a rural school on a fast road may have fewer collisions but a worse one. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position.

The area around the school

5/10 Deprivation decile

Among around the middle for England.

5/10 Child poverty decile

Among around the middle for England for children in low-income families.

Indices of Deprivation 2019, for the small area the school stands in. 1 means the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. The second measure counts only children living in low-income families, which is the one that describes the intake a school is likely to draw on.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£322,000

postcode sector CM18 6 · 305 sales

Typical range
£286,000 to £361,500

middle half of sales

Detached
£485,000
Semi-detached
£380,000
Terraced
£321,250
Flat
£176,500

Homes around this school are close to the England average.

Every residential sale registered in this postcode sector since January 2024, from HM Land Registry. A sector covers roughly 2,500 addresses. England's median over the same period was £293,000.

Who lives there

Adults with a degree
22%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
23%

England 18.3%

In professional or managerial work
6%

England 13.4%

Households deprived in 2+ ways
27%

England 17.8%

Residents in very good health
46%

England 48.4%

Housing

Owned by the occupier
67%

England 62.7%

Social housing
20%

England 17%

Privately rented
12%

England 19.2%

Detached homes
10%

England 38.2%

Four or more bedrooms
8%

England 22.5%

No car
20%

England 21.9%

Census 2021, for Harlow 007C and the wider neighbourhood around it. These figures describe the area, not the pupils — children may travel in from much further away, and for selective, faith and independent schools they usually do.

School details

Type
Free schools
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–19
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Jo Doyle
Opened as this establishment
2 September 2019
Register status
Open
Local authority
Essex
Ward
Passmores
Constituency
Harlow
URN
143697

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Official DfE record
Open the register entry

The source record for this establishment and URN.

The URN identifies this registered establishment. If a school converts or is replaced, DfE may issue a new URN; this page does not stitch different establishments together by a similar name.

Admissions history

The official school-level admissions releases contain up to 13 national-offer-day observations, from 2014/15 to 2026/27. The chart shows first choices per place; the table keeps the underlying counts.

Year 7

1.10 2020/21: 0.69 first choices per place2021/22: 0.89 first choices per place2022/23: 0.85 first choices per place2023/24: 0.98 first choices per place2024/25: 0.77 first choices per place2025/26: 0.95 first choices per place2026/27: 0.89 first choices per place2020202220242026
All 7 annual observations
Entry yearPlacesFirst choicesPer placeFirst choices offered
2020/21 120 83 0.69 100%
2021/22 175 156 0.89 100%
2022/23 192 164 0.85 100%
2023/24 211 206 0.98 100%
2024/25 179 137 0.77 100%
2025/26 178 169 0.95 93%
2026/27 138 123 0.89 100%

These are annual observations, not forecasts. They exclude waiting lists, appeals and in-year admissions. Each series follows this exact URN only, so academy conversions and missing releases remain visible as gaps rather than being joined by name.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8DistanceCompare
St Mark's West Essex Catholic SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 46.3 -0.04-0.26 to 0.18 · not a win 0.4 mi
Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, HarlowAcademy converter Requires improvement 2024 38.9 -1.01-1.21 to -0.81 0.6 mi
Bmat Stem AcademyUniversity technical college Good 2023 28.1 -1.68-2.00 to -1.36 0.7 mi
Passmores AcademyAcademy converter Good 2024 34.8 -0.67-0.85 to -0.49 1.1 mi
Burnt Mill AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 45.2 -0.21-0.42 to 0.00 · not a win 1.3 mi
Mark Hall AcademyAcademy sponsor led No overall grade 38.9 -0.82-1.05 to -0.59 1.9 mi
Saint Nicholas SchoolOther independent school No overall grade — — 2.6 mi
Open Box Education CentreOther independent school No overall grade — — 4.2 mi

Schools like this

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one — same phase and sector, and as near as the data allows on size, disadvantage, SEN, English as an additional language and the deprivation of the surrounding area. These are the schools it can fairly be judged against.

This school 44
Median of its 12 closest peers 44.7
Essex average 44
England average 47

Attainment 8 score. This school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

SchoolAreaOfstedAttainment 8Progress 8Compare
Ss John Fisher and Thomas More Roman Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Colne Report card 2026 44.1 -0.45-0.67 to -0.22
Paulet High SchoolAcademy converter Burton-on-Trent Good 2024 41 -0.69-0.92 to -0.46
Queen's Park High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Chester No overall grade 44.2 -0.04-0.31 to 0.23 · not a win
Mark Hall AcademyAcademy sponsor led Harlow No overall grade 38.9 -0.82-1.05 to -0.59
Burnt Mill AcademyAcademy converter Harlow Good 2023 45.2 -0.21-0.42 to 0.00 · not a win
Christ The King Catholic High School and Sixth Form CentreVoluntary aided school Southport Good 2023 41.8 -0.62-0.89 to -0.35
Meols Cop High SchoolAcademy converter Southport Good 2023 44.7 -0.17-0.39 to 0.04 · not a win
Harris Academy RainhamAcademy sponsor led Rainham No overall grade 50.4 0.560.35 to 0.78
St Helena SchoolAcademy converter Colchester Good 2024 46 -0.31-0.52 to -0.10
The Camden School for GirlsVoluntary aided school London Good 2022 64 0.620.36 to 0.89
Arrow Vale High SchoolAcademy sponsor led Redditch No overall grade 38.8 -0.38-0.57 to -0.20
Lode Heath SchoolAcademy converter Solihull No overall grade 50.6 0.250.05 to 0.44

Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable — sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and simple geography all matter and are not in the calculation.

Evidence ledger

Reference dates and join methods are kept separate because the figures do not all describe the same year or geography.

EvidencePublisherReference dateHow it reaches this page
School identityGet Information About Schools23 August 2026Exact URN 143697; unified importer snapshot
Inspection evidenceOfsted management information31 July 2026Exact URN; inspection 3 December 2024
AttainmentDfE performance tables2024/25Exact URN; phase-specific definitions
Progress 8DfE performance tables2023/24Exact URN; confidence interval retained
AdmissionsDfE school applications and offers2026/27 plus history to 2014/15Exact URN and entry point; national offer day
Pupil intakeDfE school census2024/25Exact URN; suppressed values remain missing
Funding allocationDfE school funding statistics2025-26 financial yearNo row for this URN in the mainstream-school release; not represented as zero
Roads and transportDfT road casualties, traffic and NaPTANFive-year road window; access-node snapshotCoordinate join within the stated radius
NeighbourhoodONS Census2021LSOA/MSOA containing the school, not pupil homes
DeprivationEnglish Indices of Deprivation2019LSOA containing the school
Home pricesHM Land Registry Price Paid DataSales since January 2024School postcode sector, not a catchment

These sources are published for reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, including the Crown database-right notice that accompanies Price Paid Data. Definitions and source notes. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.

Questions this school record can answer

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What does the latest inspection evidence say?

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How should I compare nearby schools?

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