Colchester Royal Grammar School

Colchester · CO3 3ND

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 1073 pupils, 4.7% FSM

Educational attainment Ofsted report card

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN 8% on SEN support Behaviour 5.4% absence rate Staff 14.8% turnover Financials £7,757 per pupil Environment Buildings and facilities

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Colchester Royal Grammar School

General Information

Address: Lexden Road, Colchester, CO3 3ND – View on map
Phone: 01206509100
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Mr John Russell
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 280 families put it first for 128 places – 22 for every 10 places. 23% of them were offered a place. 56 of the 128 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2024 18 · 2025 22 · 2026 22
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Boys
Religious character: Christian
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1073 pupils out of 777 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 30
% eligible for free school meals: 4.7%
Pupil mix: 8 in 10 (more mixed than the Colchester average)
English as an additional language: 9% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 14.8% a year (Colchester 14.2%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 31% moved to another school, 69% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 2 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Essex: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 227 (2.4 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 2
Suspensions for bullying: 216 (2.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 112 (1.2 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Essex (the council area this school is in), not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 5.4%
Persistently absent pupils: 18.2%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision

SEN Unit and Resourced Provision

Most mainstream schools don't have a dedicated SEN Unit or Resourced Provision - it isn't a mark against a school that doesn't, just a different kind of setup than one that does.

Pupils on SEN Support: 8.0%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 0.4%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Social, emotional and mental health: 32 pupils
Autistic spectrum disorder: 17 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 15 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 9 pupils
Hearing impairment: 6 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 3 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 1 pupil

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

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Behaviour

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Openness

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Teaching Quality

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School Ethos

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Ability to Deal with Problems

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Headteacher Approval

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SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

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Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Ofsted report card April 2026

Ofsted's new report cards grade each part of school life separately, instead of giving one overall word.

Safeguarding Met
Inclusion Strong standard
Curriculum and teaching Exceptional
Achievement Exceptional
Attendance and behaviour Strong standard
Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard
Sixth form (post-16) Exceptional
Leadership and governance Exceptional

Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Inadequate (2021). The report card above replaces that grade.

How Ofsted report cards work

Since November 2025, Ofsted grades each area of a school on its own five-point scale, and no longer gives a single word like “Good” or “Outstanding”. Safeguarding (keeping children safe) is simply met or not met.

Exceptional The very best practice nationally
Strong standard Above what Ofsted expects
Expected standard What Ofsted expects of every school
Needs attention Some weaknesses the school needs to fix
Urgent improvement Serious weaknesses needing urgent action

“Expected standard” is a sound result – it's what Ofsted expects a good school to do. Report cards aren't directly comparable with the old single grades, which is why we don't turn them into one.

Attainment 8 score: 82.1
Compared with the area: 31.2 points above the Colchester average (50.9)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: not compared – selective (grammar) school - chooses pupils by ability
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 100% (Colchester 70%, England 65%) Broadly steady
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolColchester averageEngland→ Broadly steady No clear rise or fall since 2023/24 (changes this small are normal from one year group to the next). In 2024/25 this school was 31.2 points above the Colchester average (50.9).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

1st of 11 secondary schools in Colchester for Attainment 8

#1Colchester Royal Grammar School82.1
#2Colchester County High School for Girls80.6
#3St Benedict's Catholic College54.7

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Colchester Royal Grammar School82.1
#2Colchester County High School for Girls80.6
#3St Benedict's Catholic College54.7
#4The Gilberd School53.4
#5The Stanway School48.2
#6St Helena School46.0
#7Philip Morant School and College44.5
#8The Thomas Lord Audley School42.3
#9Thurstable School41.9
#10Paxman Academy41.3
#11Colchester Academy38.5

GCSE Subjects Offered

Maths (General)
English Literature
English Language
French Language
Chemistry (General)
Biology
Physics (General)
Computer Science
History
Geography
Religious Studies
D & T
Science Double Award
German
Music Studies (General)
Latin
Art & Design
Greek (Classic)
Astronomy
Spanish
Japanese Language

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

Financials

Spending per pupil: £7,757 (2024-25)

About this spending figure

A higher or lower position here isn't a sign of a better or worse school - schools have different needs and circumstances - but it can help reassure you that a school has sufficient funding behind your child's education.

6th of 12 secondary schools in Colchester for spending per pupil

#4Paxman Academy£7,940
#5St Helena School£7,834
#6Colchester Royal Grammar School£7,757
#7St Benedict's Catholic College£7,447
#8The Stanway School£7,245

Click to see the full ranking

Spending Per Pupil ranking

Based on official DfE financial return data (Consistent Financial Reporting / Academies Accounts Return) - not a ranking of school quality.

Rank School Score

#1Colchester Academy£8,165
#2The Thomas Lord Audley School£8,140
#3Thurstable School£8,096
#4Paxman Academy£7,940
#5St Helena School£7,834
#6Colchester Royal Grammar School£7,757
#7St Benedict's Catholic College£7,447
#8The Stanway School£7,245
#9Philip Morant School and College£7,180
#10Colchester County High School for Girls£7,111
#11The Gilberd School£6,838
#12The Trinity School£6,819

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

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General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Essex: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Financials

Spending Per Pupil ranking

GCSE Subjects Offered