Downham Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School
Primary · Billericay · CM11 1NU
Data updated
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 29 September 2021
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
173 pupils · 82% of 210 capacity (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 5–11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Church of England
- Free school meals
- 6.9% of pupils (January 2026)
- Website
- www.downhamschool.org
- URN
- 152141
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 24 families named it first for 25 Reception places, 0.96 first choices per place. We hold one Reception admissions round for it, 2026 entry, and it was not decided by a published distance. An ungraded Ofsted inspection on 29 September 2021 confirmed its earlier grade, Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 5.7% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Reception entry, September 2026
0.96 first-choice applications per place25 places offered · 24 first-choice applications · roughly balanced
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures. Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
Admissions cutoff distance: Reception
Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.
How safe is a place here? Check your postcode
One free check a month, no account needed. No cutoff distance applied in 2026, so there is no boundary for your address to be inside of. The check shows how far you live from the school and how many rounds running it has placed every applicant. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools that do ration places by distance and whether you are inside them, and the address check across every school at once.
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Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Essex school admissions
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 88% (Essex 73%, England 60%) · White Gypsy/Roma 3% (Essex 0%, England 0%) · Mixed White and Black African 2% (Essex 1%, England 1%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Essex 1%, England 2%) · Any other White background 1% (Essex 7%, England 7%) · White Irish 1% (Essex 0%, England 0%) · Any other Asian background 1% (Essex 1%, England 2%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Essex 1%, England 2%) · Black African 1% (Essex 4%, England 5%) · Not recorded 1% (Essex 1%, England 1%)
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms · how absence is measured
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 9/10among the least deprived fifth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 8/10less deprived than most of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 30.1% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 14% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 42.7% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 9.4% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 55.3% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 89.1% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 4.8% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 6.1% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 50.3% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 4.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 49.3% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 4.2% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01021604 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £525,00071 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £460,000–£925,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are dearer than three quarters of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 0an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 1an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 2an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted