William Edwards School

Academy converter·Secondary school Grays, Thurrock·RM16 3NJ
Composite score
53.1
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#2,149
National rank
#236
In East of England
#7
In Thurrock
Top 68%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
42.5
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
35%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
55%
% EBacc grade 5+
13%
EBacc average points score
3.64

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Requires improvement
Quality of education
Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes
Requires improvement
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding effective?
Yes

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
100%
90 first choices, 159 places
First choices per place
0.57
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
429
any preference, for 159 places
First preferences per place, last five years▲ 0.10
00.511.5
1 per place
0.7020221.0520230.7720240.4620250.572026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

Every child who put William Edwards School first was offered a place in 2026, so no distance cut-off applied: living further away did not cost a place that year.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–16
Pupils on roll
1,105
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
21.7%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
8.5%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
13.7%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
2.6%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
7.5%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
25.3%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
14.9
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£7,796
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
92%
264 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
82%
Apprenticeship
8%
Employment
3%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

William Edwards School at a glance

Located in Grays, Thurrock, William Edwards School is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 1,105 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Requires improvement' at its most recent inspection. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 42.5, below the national average of 46. That is down 1.3 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

35% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 55% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. William Edwards School was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 90 families who put it first were offered a place. After Year 11, 92% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 7.5%. There are about 14.9 pupils per teacher. If you are considering William Edwards School, it may be worth asking how leaders have responded to Ofsted's findings and what has changed since the inspection. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.

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