King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy
General Information
- Address: Broomstick Hall Road, Waltham Abbey, EN9 1LF – View on map
- Phone: 01992714800
- Website: Visit school website
- Headteacher: Mr Andrew Jones
- Age range: 11-16 years
- Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 118 families put it first for 178 places – 7 for every 10 places. Every one of them was offered a place. 4 of the 178 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 8 · 2024 8 · 2025 8 · 2026 7
- Sixth form: No
- Intake: Mixed
- Religious character: None
- Nursery provision: No
Who goes here
- Pupils eligible for free school meals: 272
- % eligible for free school meals: 33.5%
- Pupil mix: 6 in 10 (more mixed than the Epping Forest average)
- English as an additional language: 20% (England 22%)
Staff
Teachers leaving each year
- Teacher turnover: 25.2% a year (Epping Forest 17.9%, typical in England 15.5%)
- Where they went: about 37% moved to another school, 63% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
- Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 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
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: 8.6%
- Persistently absent pupils: 25.1%
- Data year: 2024/25
SEN
No dedicated Unit or Resourced Provision
- Pupils on SEN Support: 12.9%
- Pupils with an EHC Plan: 3.1%
- Data year: 2025/26
Most common needs - SEN Support
- Social, emotional and mental health: 50 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 29 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 14 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 4 pupils
- Physical disability: 4 pupils
Most common needs - EHC Plan
- Social, emotional and mental health: 9 pupils
- Autistic spectrum disorder: 6 pupils
- Speech, language and communications needs: 3 pupils
- Specific learning difficulty: 3 pupils
- Moderate learning difficulty: 1 pupil
These figures show the makeup of the school.
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 Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
- Achievement Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing Needs attention
- Leadership and governance Needs attention
Before this, under the old system, Ofsted rated the school Good (2022). The report card above replaces that grade.
- Attainment 8 score: 36.5
- Compared with the area: 10.1 points below the Epping Forest average (46.6)
- Compared with schools with similar pupils: Well below (−6.9 points against an expected 43.4)
- Grade 4+ in English and maths: 55% (Epping Forest 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
7th of 7 secondary schools in Epping Forest for Attainment 8
- #5Epping St John's Church of England School42.8
- #6The Ongar Academy37.4
- #7King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy36.5
Click to see the full ranking
Leaver Destinations
- In education, employment, or training a year later: 93.0%
- Went into further education: 85.0%
- Data year: 2024/25
GCSE Subjects Offered
- Maths (General)
- English Literature
- English Language
- Science Double Award
- Sociology
- History
- Geography
- Photography
- Physics (General)
- Biology
- Chemistry (General)
- D & T
- Art & Design
- German
- Computer Science
- Music Studies (General)
- Religious Studies
- French Language
- Turkish
- Speech & Drama
- Polish
- Italian
- Arabic
Financials
Spending per pupil: £6,829 (2024-25)
6th of 7 secondary schools in Epping Forest for spending per pupil
- #4Davenant Foundation School£7,738
- #5West Hatch High School£7,143
- #6King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy£6,829
- #7Epping St John's Church of England School£6,513
Click to see the full ranking
View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)