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Secondary · RM16 · Grays

William Edwards School

Stifford Clays Road, Stifford Clays, Grays, RM16 3NJ

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SOUTH WEST ESSEX COMMUNITY EDUCATION TRUST LIMITED is the academy trust. Admissions rules still sit with the school and your local council.

OfstedNo overall grade

At a glance

Key published figures for this school.

OfstedNo overall grade
Attendance (2024/25)92.2%
Attainment (2024/25)Attainment 8: 42.5
Roll vs capacityAround published capacity
Pupils984

Ofsted inspection

Latest Ofsted report card

Report card grades

Safeguarding
Met
Inclusion
Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching
Needs attention
Achievement
Needs attention
Attendance and behaviour
Expected standard
Personal development and wellbeing
Expected standard
Leadership and governance
Needs attention

Ofsted grades each area on its own, from urgent improvement up to exceptional. Expected standard means the school is doing everything it should. These grades cannot be compared with the old overall grades.

Report published 9 Jun 2026.

Inspection history

  • Last overall gradeRequires improvement
  • Previous gradedRequires improvement

This page shows previous graded and latest ungraded outcomes when Ofsted publishes them in the national file. Full history stays on the Ofsted report.

View on Ofsted

School figures

Coloured bars compare this school with the average for other schools in RM16. Where we have them, council (Thurrock) and England figures appear under FSM, SEN and attendance. FSM, SEN and EAL are context, not quality scores. For attendance, higher is usually better.

Pupils on roll
984
Free school meals
22.4%
2.1% below district average (24.5%)

Also: Thurrock 24% · England 25.8%

SEN
16.3%
9.7% below district average (26%)

Also: Thurrock 15.2% · England 16.5%

EAL
8.5%
11.8% below district average (20.3%)
Attendance
92.2% Autumn and spring 2024/25
1.8% below district average (94%)

Also: Thurrock 92.8% · England 91.9%

Each metric uses its own colour so you can tell the rows apart. The lighter bar is the RM16 average; the darker bar is this school.

Compared with England

Persistent absence is 2024/25. Headline GCSE measures are 2024/25. Progress 8 is from 2023/24, the latest year published for this school. There is no Progress 8 for 2024/25 or 2025/26, because those pupils did not sit Key Stage 2 tests during the pandemic. England is the state-funded average from the same tables. Progress 8 of 0 is typical.

Persistent absence2024/25

23.6%

1.7% above England (21.9%)

Progress 82023/24

-0.29

0.29 below England (0.00)

Attainment 82024/25

42.5

3.6 below England (46.1)

Grade 5+ English & maths2024/25

34.8%

10.6% below England (45.4%)

Grade 4+ English & maths2024/25

54.9%

9.9% below England (64.8%)

Entered for EBacc2024/25

42.1%

1.6% above England (40.5%)

EBacc average point score2024/25

3.64

0.4 below England (4.09)

Trends

Attendance

Autumn and spring 2024/25 from DfE pupil absence data (where published for this URN). The headline above uses the same period.

  • 96.7%
    2020/21
  • 90.7%
    2021/22
  • 91.9%
    2022/23
  • 92.6%
    2023/24
  • 92.2%
    2024/25

Admissions

Applications and offers (September 2026 entry)

For September 2026 entry, 90 families put this school first. All of them were offered a place here.

Named as first preference
90
First-preference offers
90
First preferences offered a place
100%
Total offers
159
Named on any preference
429

This is historic demand from one admissions round. It is not a guarantee of a place, and it does not show a catchment area. Admission rules and priorities differ by school.

SourceDfE applications and offers, September 2026 entryPublished 18th of June 2026.

How full the building is

Roll versus published capacity
Around published capacity
Published capacity (GIAS)
1200
Pupils on roll
984

Pupils on roll compared with the capacity published in GIAS. This is about building size, not applications or offers, and it is not a guarantee of a place.

Applications and offers come from DfE. Last distance offered and catchment areas are not published nationally. Your council admissions booklet has those details.

Check your council admissions booklet via the Thurrock page.

SEN support

SEN %
16.3%

A higher SEN percentage can mean experience with support needs, or more demand on staff. Ask the SENCO what is available day to day.

Schools near William Edwards School

Distances are in a straight line from this school. They are not catchment areas.

Other nearby schools

All schools in RM16 · Schools in Thurrock

Sources and freshness

  • School year for most DfE figures: 2024/25.
  • Pipeline last checked: Oct 2026.
  • Council and England attendance / FSM tables: 2024/25.
  • School figures from DfE / GIAS / Ofsted where published. District averages use other schools in this postcode district. Council and England figures use DfE local authority and national tables for the matching phase.
  • We do not publish school photos. The banner shows initials from the school name.
  • Methodology · Data updates