Alec Hunter Academy
Braintree, CM7 3NR · Essex local authority
Braintree’s School Grade B− better than 47% of towns in England
What stands out about Alec Hunter Academy
- Its own letter, B: GCSE results better than 59% of England’s secondary schools
- 14% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (fewer than England’s 30%)
- Ofsted: Good, November 2022 (shown, not graded)
- 83% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (189 of 227)
- Progress 8 of -0.10 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did about as well at GCSE as pupils nationally with the same results at 11
- Homes in its postcode sector (CM7 3) sold for a median £270,000; Braintree’s is £305,000
Results
DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 217 pupilsEach bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools Alec Hunter beats are shaded green.
Attainment 8 47.1
Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 55% of schools · Essex avg 46.9
Grade 5+ in English and maths 50%
A strong pass · higher than 61% of schools · Essex avg 46%
Attainment 8, three years
The mark is England’s average that year
Progress 8, 2023/24
-0.10: about average. How pupils did at GCSE against pupils nationally with the same results at 11. Not published since 2023/24 (no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021).
Disadvantaged pupils, 2025/26
Attainment 8 for the 51 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Alec Hunter Academy?
83% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2021 (25), 2022 (10), 2023 (23), 2024 (37), 2025 (68), 2026 (38). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. Saffron Academy Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Essex council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places
83% got their first choice
Braintree and Essex, side by side
2025/26All 78 graded secondaries in Essex. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Braintree’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford | A+ | 3% | 83 |
| Chelmsford County High School for Girls | A+ | 5% | 81.4 |
| Colchester Royal Grammar School | A+ | 5% | 80.9 |
| Colchester County High School for Girls | A+ | 3% | 79.7 |
| Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School | A+ | 10% | 63.2 |
| The Beaulieu Park School | A | 11% | 59.3 |
| Anglo European School | A | 10% | 58.6 |
| St Benedict's Catholic College | A | 9% | 58.4 |
| Saffron Walden County High School | A | 10% | 55.8 |
| Becket Keys Church of England Free School | A | 10% | 55.5 |
| Davenant Foundation School | A | 9% | 54.9 |
| Moulsham High School | A− | 12% | 54.8 |
| The King John School | B+ | 13% | 51.6 |
| West Hatch High School | A− | 14% | 51 |
| Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport | B+ | 12% | 50.7 |
| Lift Greensward | B+ | 13% | 50.5 |
| St Mark's West Essex Catholic School | B | 21% | 50 |
| St Martin's School Brentwood | B+ | 14% | 49.9 |
| The Gilberd School | B+ | 15% | 49.9 |
| The Trinity School | B+ | 16% | 49.6 |
| Manningtree High School | B+ | 13% | 49.2 |
| The Boswells School | B | 16% | 49.1 |
| St John Payne Catholic School, Chelmsford | B | 17% | 48.7 |
| Great Baddow High School | B− | 16% | 48.3 |
| The Stanway School | B | 16% | 48.3 |
| Mayflower High School | B+ | 11% | 48.1 |
| Chelmer Valley High School | B | 23% | 48 |
| Debden Park High School | B | 20% | 47.4 |
| Harris Academy Billericay | B | 18% | 47.3 |
| The FitzWimarc School | B− | 13% | 47.3 |
| Burnt Mill Academy | B | 28% | 47.2 |
| Alec Hunter Academy | B | 14% | 47.1 |
| Brentwood County High School | B | 21% | 46.7 |
| Epping St John's Church of England School | B− | 19% | 46.6 |
| Thurstable School | B | 19% | 46.5 |
| The Ramsey Academy, Halstead | B | 25% | 46.5 |
| Notley High School and Sixth Form | B | 18% | 46.1 |
| De La Salle School | B− | 23% | 46 |
| Beauchamps High School | B− | 13% | 45.6 |
| Philip Morant School and College | B− | 25% | 45.6 |
| The Sandon School | C+ | 15% | 45.5 |
| Honywood School | C+ | 17% | 45.1 |
| Sir Frederick Gibberd College | C+ | 29% | 44.7 |
| Harris Academy Kingswood | C+ | 30% | 44.4 |
| Roding Valley High School | C+ | 20% | 44.2 |
| Helena Romanes School | C+ | 18% | 44 |
| William de Ferrers School | C+ | 14% | 43.8 |
| Hedingham School and Sixth Form | C+ | 16% | 43.5 |
| Forest Hall School | C+ | 31% | 42.8 |
| Lift New Rickstones | C | 28% | 42.5 |
| Shenfield High School | C | 20% | 42.4 |
| St Helena School | C | 34% | 42.4 |
| Paxman Academy | C | 33% | 42.4 |
| Colne Community School | C+ | 22% | 42.3 |
| Plume School | C | 26% | 42.2 |
| The James Hornsby School | C− | 48% | 41.8 |
| The Sweyne Park School | C | 21% | 41.3 |
| The Thomas Lord Audley School | C− | 30% | 41.2 |
| Castle View School | C− | 29% | 40.9 |
| Lift Maltings | C | 23% | 40.6 |
| Lift Tendring | C− | 31% | 40.6 |
| Hylands School | C | 45% | 40.3 |
| Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, Harlow | C− | 37% | 40.1 |
| The Ongar Academy | C− | 27% | 40 |
| King Harold Business & Enterprise Academy | D | 34% | 39.7 |
| The King Edmund School | D | 36% | 39.3 |
| Harris Academy Benfleet | C− | 18% | 39 |
| Tabor Academy | C− | 25% | 38.5 |
| Harris Academy Wickford | D | 24% | 38.2 |
| Mark Hall Academy | C− | 28% | 37.8 |
| Clacton County High School | D | 37% | 37.5 |
| Ormiston Rivers Academy | D | 18% | 36.7 |
| Passmores Academy | D | 29% | 36.2 |
| Colchester Academy | D | 42% | 35.3 |
| Harwich and Dovercourt High School | D− | 43% | 34.1 |
| The Deanes | D− | 25% | 32.2 |
| Lift Clacton | D− | 57% | 29.6 |
| The Basildon Upper Academy | D− | 46% | 26.9 |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 20251,067 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Alec Hunter Academy’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Ungraded inspection: School remains Good, November 2022.
Living near Alec Hunter Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in CM7 3, the school’s postcode sector
Braintree property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in CM7 3 sell for a little under Braintree’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
10 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Braintree, CM7 3NR
Alec Hunter Academy: common questions
Is Alec Hunter Academy a good school?
By its published results, above average: its GCSE results are better than 59% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is B), with an Attainment 8 of 47.1 and 50% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Good, November 2022.
How hard is it to get into Alec Hunter Academy?
For September 2026, 227 families put Alec Hunter Academy first and 189 of them were offered a place; 202 places were offered in all.
What is Alec Hunter Academy’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Good (November 2022).
How much do houses cost near Alec Hunter Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, CM7 3, sold for a median £270,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (447 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Braintree’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.