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The Sweyne Park School

SecondaryAges 11–19AcademySixth form

Rayleigh, SS6 9BZ · Essex local authority

Rayleigh’s School Grade B better than 59% of towns in England

Its letter
25%
of England’s secondaries have lower GCSE results
Getting in
200/200
first choices offered a place, 2026 (England: 84%)
How full
1,429 pupils
94% of its 1,520 places
Free school meals
21%
21 in 100 pupils eligible · outlined square = England’s schools (30)
The gist

What stands out about The Sweyne Park School

  • Its own letter, C: GCSE results better than 25% of England’s secondary schools
  • 36% get grade 5 or above in English and maths, 11 points below England’s schools
  • Ofsted: Inspected, May 2025 (shown, not graded)
  • Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026 (200 of 200)
  • Progress 8 of -0.38 in 2023/24, the last year DfE published it: pupils did less well at GCSE than pupils nationally with the same results at 11
  • Homes in its postcode sector (SS6 9) sold for a median £420,000; Rayleigh’s is £417,500

Results

DfE · GCSEs 2025/26, provisional · 266 pupils

Each bar is a group of England’s 3,224 graded secondary schools. The schools The Sweyne Park beats are shaded green.

Attainment 8 41.3

Average grade across 8 GCSEs ×10 · higher than 24% of schools · Essex avg 46.9

20304050607080England avg 47.3The Sweyne Park 41.3

Grade 5+ in English and maths 36%

A strong pass · higher than 27% of schools · Essex avg 46%

0%20%40%60%80%100%England avg 47.3%The Sweyne Park 36%

Attainment 8, three years

The mark is England’s average that year

2023/24
40.2
2024/25
44
2025/26
41.3

Progress 8, 2023/24

−1 behind0 = national+1 ahead

-0.38: below 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 48 pupils DfE counts as disadvantaged (free school meals in the last 6 years, or looked after) and the rest, beside England’s schools

Disadvantaged
32.3England 38.6
Not disadvantaged
43.3England 50.6
Grade 4 or above in English and maths62%
England’s schools 66% · Essex 65% · a standard pass

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.

Getting in

How hard is it to get a place at The Sweyne Park School?

Every family who put it first got a place for September 2026.

200
families put it first for September 2026
234
places offered
100%
of first choices offered a place (England’s secondaries: 84%)
First choices and places, by year of entry
20192020202120222023202420252026
Families who put it firstPlaces offered
Red figures: first choices not offered a place

Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (19), 2020 (51), 2021 (22). 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. Rayleigh Schools Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Essex council’s coordinated admissions.

Demand for secondary schools nearby, September 2026

Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places

1.39 per place
69% got their first choice
1.00 per place
91% got their first choice
0.97 per place
94% got their first choice
0.97 per place
94% got their first choice
The Sweyne Park
0.85 per place
100% got their first choice
0.68 per place
97% got their first choice
0.68 per place
100% got their first choice

Rayleigh and Essex, side by side

2025/26

All 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. Rayleigh’s schools are coloured by their letter.

25364758698010%20%30%40%50%60%Pupils eligible for free school meals →Attainment 8 →The FitzWimarcThe Sweyne Park
ABCDElsewhere in EssexThe Sweyne Park
Show as a table
SchoolLetterFree school mealsAttainment 8
King Edward VI Grammar School, ChelmsfordA+3%83
Chelmsford County High School for GirlsA+5%81.4
Colchester Royal Grammar SchoolA+5%80.9
Colchester County High School for GirlsA+3%79.7
Brentwood Ursuline Convent High SchoolA+10%63.2
The Beaulieu Park SchoolA11%59.3
Anglo European SchoolA10%58.6
St Benedict's Catholic CollegeA9%58.4
Saffron Walden County High SchoolA10%55.8
Becket Keys Church of England Free SchoolA10%55.5
Davenant Foundation SchoolA9%54.9
Moulsham High SchoolA−12%54.8
The King John SchoolB+13%51.6
West Hatch High SchoolA−14%51
Joyce Frankland Academy, NewportB+12%50.7
Lift GreenswardB+13%50.5
St Mark's West Essex Catholic SchoolB21%50
St Martin's School BrentwoodB+14%49.9
The Gilberd SchoolB+15%49.9
The Trinity SchoolB+16%49.6
Manningtree High SchoolB+13%49.2
The Boswells SchoolB16%49.1
St John Payne Catholic School, ChelmsfordB17%48.7
Great Baddow High SchoolB−16%48.3
The Stanway SchoolB16%48.3
Mayflower High SchoolB+11%48.1
Chelmer Valley High SchoolB23%48
Debden Park High SchoolB20%47.4
Harris Academy BillericayB18%47.3
The FitzWimarc SchoolB−13%47.3
Burnt Mill AcademyB28%47.2
Alec Hunter AcademyB14%47.1
Brentwood County High SchoolB21%46.7
Epping St John's Church of England SchoolB−19%46.6
Thurstable SchoolB19%46.5
The Ramsey Academy, HalsteadB25%46.5
Notley High School and Sixth FormB18%46.1
De La Salle SchoolB−23%46
Beauchamps High SchoolB−13%45.6
Philip Morant School and CollegeB−25%45.6
The Sandon SchoolC+15%45.5
Honywood SchoolC+17%45.1
Sir Frederick Gibberd CollegeC+29%44.7
Harris Academy KingswoodC+30%44.4
Roding Valley High SchoolC+20%44.2
Helena Romanes SchoolC+18%44
William de Ferrers SchoolC+14%43.8
Hedingham School and Sixth FormC+16%43.5
Forest Hall SchoolC+31%42.8
Lift New RickstonesC28%42.5
Shenfield High SchoolC20%42.4
St Helena SchoolC34%42.4
Paxman AcademyC33%42.4
Colne Community SchoolC+22%42.3
Plume SchoolC26%42.2
The James Hornsby SchoolC−48%41.8
The Sweyne Park SchoolC21%41.3
The Thomas Lord Audley SchoolC−30%41.2
Castle View SchoolC−29%40.9
Lift MaltingsC23%40.6
Lift TendringC−31%40.6
Hylands SchoolC45%40.3
Stewards Academy - Science Specialist, HarlowC−37%40.1
The Ongar AcademyC−27%40
King Harold Business & Enterprise AcademyD34%39.7
The King Edmund SchoolD36%39.3
Harris Academy BenfleetC−18%39
Tabor AcademyC−25%38.5
Harris Academy WickfordD24%38.2
Mark Hall AcademyC−28%37.8
Clacton County High SchoolD37%37.5
Ormiston Rivers AcademyD18%36.7
Passmores AcademyD29%36.2
Colchester AcademyD42%35.3
Harwich and Dovercourt High SchoolD−43%34.1
The DeanesD−25%32.2
Lift ClactonD−57%29.6
The Basildon Upper AcademyD−46%26.9

Who goes here

DfE school census, January 2025

1,422 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.

SEN support
14.4%England 14%
EHC plan
4.9%England 3.2%
English as an additional language
1.5%England 19%
Free school meals in the last 6 years
19.9%England 29.6%

Girls and boys

Girls 52%Boys 48%
Its letter

The Sweyne Park School’s letter

Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.

Secondary: Attainment 8 and grade 5+ English and maths CBetter than 25% of 3,224 schools
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.

A+ 95+A 85–94A− 75–84B+ 65–74B 55–64B− 45–54C+ 35–44C 25–34C− 15–24D 5–14D− 0–4

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

Ofsted inspections

Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.

Graded inspection (no overall grade since September 2024), May 2025.

The full reports on Ofsted ↗

Living nearby

Living near The Sweyne Park School

For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.

Home prices in SS6 9, the school’s postcode sector

Rayleigh property prices →
£420,000
median sale, 623 sales in 36 months · Rayleigh £417,500

Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025

£150K£200K£250K£300K£350K£400K£450K2010201520202025SS6 9Rayleigh
SS6 9Rayleigh

By type, the 36 months to August 2026

Detached
£532K
Semi-detached
£395K
Terraced
£345K
Flat
£210K
SS6 9Rayleigh

Homes in SS6 9 sell for about the same as Rayleigh’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

8 state schools
0.5 mi1 mi1.5 miNB−B−AB−C+C+A−CCThe Sweyne Park School
ABCDNo letterPrimarySecondary / all-through

Rayleigh, SS6 9BZ

The Sweyne Park School: common questions

Is The Sweyne Park School a good school?

By its published results, below average: its GCSE results are better than 25% of England’s secondary schools (its letter is C), with an Attainment 8 of 41.3 and 36% getting grade 5 or above in English and maths, against 47.3 and 47% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Inspected, May 2025.

How hard is it to get into The Sweyne Park School?

For September 2026, 200 families put The Sweyne Park School first and all of them were offered a place; 234 places were offered in all.

What is The Sweyne Park School’s Ofsted rating?

Its latest inspection outcome is Inspected (May 2025).

How much do houses cost near The Sweyne Park School?

Homes in its postcode sector, SS6 9, sold for a median £420,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (623 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; Rayleigh’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.