Secondary school
Sources and method
This school
URN 136776 · LAESTAB 881/5408 · Source: Get Information about Schools, DfE, OGL v3.0 (record under Visit & links).
Top school 2024/25
Attainment 8: P92.4 of East of England secondaries (2024/25) · Grade 5+ English and maths: P87.7 (2024/25) · Ofsted Outstanding (2024).
Top 10% of East of England secondaries on Attainment 8 and top 25% on Grade 5+ English and maths (2024/25, cohort 30+), and Ofsted Good or better or a report card with nothing below Expected. Separate from the map plaque, which only tiers the school's East of England rank by England results (Top 1/3/5/10/25%).
Against East of England and Essex
Track: East of England's middle 80% (10th to 90th percentile); L = East of England median; E = Essex median, shown when 10 or more of its schools have a figure; the dot is this school.
East of England state schools in Close Knit with a published figure, same phase (primary or secondary) and year; the borough median only when 10 or more of its schools have one. 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles with linear interpolation (PostgreSQL percentile_cont).
Colour only where lower or higher is clearly better (absence: lower): blue = better than the East of England median, red = in East of England's worst 10%.
Money: Compared only with academies' accounts (AAR), same academic year.
Results
England rank: Key stage 4: Attainment 8 average score. Ranked among 3,280 secondaries in England, 2024/25. England's state-funded mainstream schools with a published figure that year (suppressed or missing figures are left out); equal figures share a rank; top % = rank ÷ schools × 100, rounded up.
Top % in England by year: the first and best years are labelled; the dashed line is the middle (top 50%).
Against East of England: East of England state secondaries, same year, cohort 30+, suppressed figures left out. Steps: the score out of 10 against East of England (10 = top 10%).
Arrows: change in East of England percentile points.
Pupils counted: Attainment 8 303 pupils (2024/25) · Grade 5+ English and maths 303 pupils (2024/25) · EBacc point score 303 pupils (2024/25) · Progress 8 293 pupils (2023/24) · A level points per entry 279 pupils (2024/25).
Progress 8: Not published for 2024/25: Progress 8 returns with 2026/27 results.
Getting in
Got in = first-choice families offered a place on national offer day ÷ families who put the school first. Putting a school first gives no priority: siblings and distance decide.
First-choice applications not offered a place on national offer day: 100 × (1 − first-preference offers ÷ first preferences). Applications count preferences, not children; places can still be offered from waiting lists after offer day.
Source: DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers.
Last distance offered: the straight line from the school to the furthest child offered a place under the distance rule. Not a catchment: it changes every year.
Inspections
OutstandingGood
Dates are the day each inspection started: Mar 2024 Outstanding · May 2012 Outstanding · Feb 2007 Good. Each dot opens its Ofsted report.
Inspection judgements graded Outstanding or Good, and Requires improvement or Inadequate, out of the judgements graded (the overall grade and aggregated judgements are not counted). Counted from Ofsted's grades, never scored from the report text.
Source: Ofsted, state-funded schools inspections and outcomes.
Pupils
Full = pupils on roll ÷ the school's capacity (2,050 places), from Get Information about Schools.
Pupil profile and absence: DfE school census and pupil absence (Compare school and college performance). Free school meals = eligible at any time in the past 6 years; persistently absent = missed 10% or more of sessions. Withheld = suppressed by DfE.
Parent View
Survey period 4 Sep 2023 to 2 Sep 2024, as at 2 Sep 2024. Source: Ofsted Parent View management information, OGL v3.0 (dataset). The school's own survey page is under Visit & links.
Ofsted changed the survey on 10 Nov 2025. The card shows the newest survey with 10 or more responses; an earlier survey is labelled and never mixed with the current one.
Share of the parents who answered, from Ofsted's published percentages: agree = strongly agree + agree; yes/no and overall-view questions show the share answering Yes or Positive. Where a question does not apply to every parent (Not applicable, I have not raised any concerns), agree is the share of the parents it applies to: strongly agree + agree divided by 100% minus that answer; the card says how many it did not apply to. Don't know stays in. Ofsted publishes a school only with 10 or more submissions. The questions changed on 10 November 2025: the card shows the current survey when the school has one, else the earlier survey (one academic year of submissions, the latest with 10 or more), never both.
Workforce
School workforce census, 2025/26. Staff in FTE (full-time equivalent), rounded to 1 decimal on the card. As published: teachers 125.34, leadership 9, teaching assistants 27.33, support staff incl. TAs 81.26, whole workforce 206.6 (252 people), 143 teachers by headcount.
Other support = support staff incl. TAs minus teaching assistants.
Per adult counts teachers, TAs and other classroom support; excludes admin staff.
- DfE: FTE pupils (January census) ÷ FTE teachers (November census)
- DfE: FTE pupils ÷ FTE teachers, teaching assistants, other school support staff and technicians; administrative, auxiliary and business staff are not counted
- Teachers in leadership posts: head, deputy and assistant heads
Financials
Academy accounts (AAR) · September 2024 to August 2025.
Published total ÷ FTE pupils in the same return, to the nearest pound; income and spend per pupil are left out when the return covers less than 12 months.
CFR (maintained schools, April–March) and AAR (academies, September–August) are different accounts and years: do not compare a maintained school with an academy.
Destinations
Students who finished the stage in the cohort year, followed through the next year: sustained = at least six months in education, an apprenticeship or employment
Source: DfE destination measures.
All sources and licences (9)
- Department for Education, Primary and secondary school applications and offers
- Department for Education, Compare school and college performance
- Ofsted, state-funded schools inspections and outcomes
- Department for Education, 16-19 destination measures, academic year
- Department for Education, Academies Accounts Return
- Department for Education, Key stage 4 destination measures, academic year
- Department for Education, School workforce in England, reporting year 2025
- Department for Education, Get Information about Schools
- Ofsted, Ofsted Parent View management information
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How we compare schools · release rel-202610230107-census-layers-england
Saffron Walden County High School
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Results · 2024/25
Ranked 259 of 3,280 secondaries in England · top 8%
A-level results
#51 of 273 East of England sixth forms, state and independent, 2024/25
Independent and selective (grammar) schools choose their pupils, so high results partly reflect who gets in, not only teaching. Some independent schools don't publish results.
Against East of England
Show exam results by year
No exams 2019/20–21
Getting in · 2026
By preference
| Choice | Applied | Offered |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 344 | 289 |
| 2nd | 85 | 1 |
| 3rd | 56 | 0 |
No last distance offered published
Visit & links
Open days aren't open data: the school site lists them.
Official
Guides
Links open in a new tab. Close Knit counts the click, never what you do there.
Inspections · 2007–2024
- 2007Goodas predecessor
- 2012Outstanding
- 2024Outstanding
5 strong areas
- Personal development
- Quality of education
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Sixth form provision
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
0 weak areas
5 areas graded · safeguarding effective
Pupils · 2024/25
Girls 51.7%Boys 48.3%
105.2% full · 2,050 places · 618 in sixth form
Parent View
Earlier survey (before Nov 2025) · as at 2 Sep 2024 · 428 responses (20.1% of pupils)
Workforce · 2025/26
- Classroom teachers 116.3
- Leadership 9
- Teaching assistants 27.3
- Other support 53.9
Teachers 125.3 FTE · Whole workforce 206.6 · 252 people
Financials · 2024/25
- £0revenue reserve
- −£585,000in-year balance
Grants £6,378 · self-generated £1,105 · premises £339 per pupil
Multi-academy trust: SAFFRON ACADEMY TRUST (9 academies) · trust reserve £2,582,000 · Reserves in a multi-academy trust belong to the trust; this academy's figures include the share of central costs the trust gives it
Destinations · 2023/24 leavers
After Year 11
293 students, followed through 2024/25 · Provisional
After sixth form (16–18)
304 students, followed through 2024/25 · Provisional