Schools in Essex
Essex · 7 schools
Year 7 applications for September 2027 close in 4 days
Deadline Saturday 31 October 2026. Apply to Essex (the council where you live). Offers on 1 March.
Reception applications for September 2027 close in 80 days
Deadline Friday 15 January 2027. Apply to Essex (the council where you live). Offers on 16 April.
Schools in Essex (7)
- Compass Community School Essex
Special · Ages 11-19 · Independent · CO16 9PY
Ofsted: Good (2024)Attainment 8: 6.7 (2024) - Hopewell School
Special · Ages 5-19 · Independent · RM9 6XN
Ofsted: Good (2025)Attainment 8: 3.3 (2026) - Open Box Education Centre
Senior · Ages 14-17 · Independent · CM16 5DN
Ofsted: Good (2024)Attainment 8: 6 (2026) - Elm Green Preparatory School
Prep · Ages 3-11 · Independent · CM3 4SU
By type:Special schools in Essex (4)Prep schools in Essex (1)Senior schools in Essex (1)All-through schools in Essex (1)
7
0 primary · 0 secondary
756
75% capacity used
4
0 outstanding · 4 good
1,013
257 spare places
Ofsted Ratings
Best Schools in Essex
View the full league table - ranked by Ofsted, Progress 8, KS2 results and more
Best Schools in Essex
Compare all schools across the county
Area Performance (2026)
Attainment 8
17.5
GCSE Eng+Maths
0.0%
Questions parents ask about schools in Essex
How many schools are there in Essex?
Essex has 7 open schools: 3 independent and 4 special.
Source: DfE Get Information About Schools
Are there any Outstanding schools in Essex?
None of the 5 graded schools in Essex currently holds an Outstanding rating. 5 are rated Good, so 100% are Good or better. Ofsted stopped giving single-word overall grades in September 2024, so these are the grades from each school's last full inspection.
Source: Ofsted
Do schools in Essex have catchment areas?
Most state schools in Essex have no fixed catchment boundary. When a school is oversubscribed, the council allocates places on its published criteria - usually looked-after children first, then siblings, then home-to-school distance - so the practical cut-off moves each year. Each school's page here shows an estimate of its catchment radius.
How do I apply for a school place in Essex?
Apply to your council - Essex or Barking and Dagenham, depending on your address - through its coordinated admissions process, even for academies and faith schools. In England the closing date is 31 October for secondary places and 15 January for primary places, in the year before your child starts. Independent schools run their own admissions, so apply to those directly.