Thurstable School
Secondary · Colchester · CO5 0EW
Earlier grade, confirmed by a later ungraded inspection
Ofsted's most recent (ungraded) visit confirmed the school remains Good. Ungraded inspections do not award a new grade.
Inspected 3 November 2021
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
932 pupils · 73% of 1,275 capacity
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 18.5% of pupils
- English as additional language
- 2.4% of pupils
- SEN support
- 15.5% of pupils
- EHC plan
- 2.6% of pupils
- Website
- http://www.thurstable.co.uk
- URN
- 137241
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.80 first-choice applications per place184 places offered · 147 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.
GCSE results (2024/2025)
205 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.
Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)
Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
81% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 8% moved to another state school · 11% left the state-funded sector
School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Spending per pupil
Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.
Inspection history since 2015
- 20 May 2025: Requires Improvement S5 Reinspection Visit 1
- 2 May 2024: Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action in order for the school to become a good school
- 21 September 2022: Requires improvement
- 2 November 2021: School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next
- 19 April 2016: Good
Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.