Epping St John's Church of England School, Epping

Ofsted's report card from its 10 March 2026 inspection grades Epping St John's Church of England School on 7 areas: 6 expected standard and 1 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Expected standard. "Pupils steadily accumulate key knowledge in a range of subjects."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders accurately assess pupils' individual needs."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders have recently operated under difficult circumstances."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have developed a well-considered personal, social and health education curriculum."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders have developed an ambitious and balanced post-16 curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Leaders have not effectively supported disadvantaged pupils to overcome their barriers to attending school."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that they develop and implement plans that support disadvantaged pupils to overcome their specific barriers to regularly attending school"; "Leaders should ensure that staff have the expertise to adapt their teaching to ensure that pupils, and students in post-16, who can achieve a greater depth of learning achieve as well as they could"; "Leaders should ensure that they carefully monitor the implementation of the personal development programme and act on the feedback to ensure pupils enjoy a consistent learning experience"; "Leaders should ensure that those responsible for governance have the knowledge and expertise to hold leaders to account for the impact of their actions".

In its own words: "We are proud to serve the community of Epping. We are becoming an educational centre of excellence with community cohesion at the heart of all we do and have strong links with several local businesses. We are ably supported by an active and ambitious Parent Teacher Association and Parent Carer Forum."

From the headteacher's welcome: "We are a Church of England school with Christian values at the core of all we do. We strive to be a centre of excellence at the very heart of Epping; the town that we are so proud to serve."

Coming up: an open evening on Wednesday 4 November 2026. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Epping St John's Church of England School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.6, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 46.5 in Essex and 47 across England.

47% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 45% in Essex and 47% in England.

That is up from 42.8 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0: pupils made about average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 40.1, against 48.4 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 8.3 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 20 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Business Studies and History.

For September 2026 entry, 194 families put Epping St John's Church of England School as their first choice and 407 named it as one of their preferences, for 175 places offered. That is 1.1 first choices for every place. 35 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Epping St John's Church of England School are Davenant Foundation School (2.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 54.9); Debden Park High School (3 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 47.4); King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy (3.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.7); and Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow (3.8 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 40.1).

Epping St John's Church of England School's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 4 schools.

Epping St John's Church of England School is one of 12 schools run by Bmat Education, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40.7 in 2024/25.

183 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Epping St John's Church of England School (as of September 2026): 65% would recommend the school, 67% say their child is happy there and 35% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (80%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (35%).

Of the 164 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 87% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 46% to a further education college, 3% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

Of the 119 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 45% went on to university or other higher education, 10% to apprenticeships and 30% into work. 13% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

4.5% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (80%) and Mixed (8%).

In 2026, 109 pupils (10.5%) received SEN support and 22 (2.1%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest Underground station is Epping Underground Station, about 1080 metres away (roughly a 13-minute walk).

3 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is School (se-bound), 50 metres away.

In 2024/25, Epping St John's Church of England School issued 464 suspensions, 45 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Epping St John's Church of England School are Epping Primary School (0.5 miles), Ivy Chimneys Primary School (0.6 miles), Theydon Bois Primary School (1.5 miles) and Coopersale and Theydon Garnon Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School (1.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.