Secondary school in Colchester, Essex
Thurstable School
Maypole Road, Tiptree, Colchester, Essex, CO5 0EW
Ofsted
Inspected under the current framework, which gives no overall grade, on 20 May 2025.
Inspections since September 2024 do not give an overall grade, so there is no one-word judgement to report. The full report sets out what inspectors found.
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 least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the bottom quarter.
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
- 932
- Places
- 1275
- How full
- 73% full — 932 of 1275 places taken, so places are likely to be available
- Girls / boys
- 474 / 458
- Overall absence
- 9%
- Persistently absent
- 24%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 19%
- English as an additional language
- 2%
- With an EHC plan
- 3%
- On SEN support
- 16%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
- In education, work or training
- 89%
- Stayed in education
- 85%
- Started an apprenticeship
- 2%
- Stayed at this school's sixth form
- 26%
- No sustained destination
- 7%
- Pupils in the cohort
- 206
England 91.4%
England 85.4%
England 3.5%
England 5.8%
Going on to university 2021/22 leavers
Went to a top third university
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
- 48%
- Students in the cohort
- 65
England 65.3%
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 020D, 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
- 19%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 24%
- Households owning their home
- 63%
- Households in social housing
- 23%
- Households with no car
- 18%
- Adults economically inactive
- 41%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- THURSTABLE SCHOOL
- Headteacher
- Head Teacher: James Ketley
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward
- Tiptree
- Constituency
- Witham
- URN
- 137241
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honywood SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 46.3 | 4.7 mi |
| Lift New RickstonesAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 40.6 | 4.8 mi |
| Lift MaltingsAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 39.9 | 5.2 mi |
| The Stanway SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 48.2 | 5.9 mi |
| Paxman AcademyFree schools | Good 2024 | 41.3 | 6.3 mi |
| Holmwood House SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 6.6 mi |
| Philip Morant School and CollegeAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 44.5 | 6.8 mi |
| Plume SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 42.9 | 6.9 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Holy Cross Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school | Good 2022 | 55 |
| Penair SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 49.1 |
| Humberston AcademyAcademy converter | No grade | 47.6 |
| St Thomas More High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2024 | 52.3 |
| Outwood Academy ValleyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2024 | 50.4 |
| Samuel Ryder AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2022 | 56.5 |
| Lord Williams's SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 46.2 |
| Joyce Frankland Academy, NewportAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 44.9 |
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.