Colne Community School is a mixed secondary academy in Colchester, Essex County Council, teaching 1,289 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted rated it Good at its last graded inspection in June 2023. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 43 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 2 September 2025 to 20 July 2026.

Ofsted inspection

The latest published Ofsted judgement for Colne Community School.

Latest inspection
Good Overall effectiveness
Quality of educationGood
Behaviour & attitudesGood
Personal developmentGood
Leadership & managementGood
S5 Inspection · Inspected 27 Jun 2023 · Published 19 Sep 2023
Read full Ofsted report ↗

Scale: Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate

Term dates & holidays 2025–2026

Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for Colne Community School.

Colne Community School term dates calendar 2025–2026
Official term-dates calendar · 2025–2026 · source

Interactive Calendar

September 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1 INSET Day
  • 2 First day of Autumn Term
October 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 27–31 Autumn Half Term
November 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
December 2025
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 19 Last day of Autumn Term
  • 22–31 Christmas Holiday
  • 25 Christmas Day (Public Holiday)
  • 26 Boxing Day (Public Holiday)
January 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–2 Christmas Holiday
  • 1 New Year's Day (Public Holiday)
  • 5 First day of Spring Term
February 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
  • 16–20 Spring Half Term
  • 23 INSET Day
March 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 27 Last day of Spring Term
  • 30–31 Easter Holiday
April 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
  • 1–10 Easter Holiday
  • 3 Good Friday (Public Holiday)
  • 6 Easter Monday (Public Holiday)
  • 13 First day of Summer Term
May 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 4 Early May Bank Holiday
  • 25–29 Summer Half Term
  • 25 Spring Bank Holiday
June 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
July 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 20 Last day of Summer Term
  • 20 INSET Day
  • 21–31 Summer Holiday
August 2026
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
  • 1–31 Summer Holiday
  • 31 Summer Bank Holiday

Key dates (2025–2026)

  • INSET Day Sep 1, 2025 Inset Day
  • First day of Autumn Term Sep 2, 2025 Term
  • Autumn Half Term Oct 27-31, 2025 Holiday
  • Last day of Autumn Term Dec 19, 2025 Term
  • Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
  • First day of Spring Term Jan 5, 2026 Term
  • Spring Half Term Feb 16-20, 2026 Holiday
  • INSET Day Feb 23, 2026 Inset Day
  • Last day of Spring Term Mar 27, 2026 Term
  • Easter Holiday Mar 30 - Apr 10, 2026 Holiday
  • First day of Summer Term Apr 13, 2026 Term
  • Summer Half Term May 25-29, 2026 Holiday
  • Last day of Summer Term Jul 20, 2026 Term
  • INSET Day Jul 20, 2026 Inset Day
  • Summer Holiday Jul 21 - Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
  • New Year's Day (Public Holiday) Jan 1, 2026 Holiday
  • Good Friday (Public Holiday) Apr 3, 2026 Holiday
  • Easter Monday (Public Holiday) Apr 6, 2026 Holiday
  • Early May Bank Holiday May 4, 2026 Holiday
  • Spring Bank Holiday May 25, 2026 Holiday
  • Summer Bank Holiday Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
  • Christmas Day (Public Holiday) Dec 25, 2025 Holiday
  • Boxing Day (Public Holiday) Dec 26, 2025 Holiday

Exam results & performance

DfE performance tables Official results, 2024–2025 GOV.UK ↗
43 Attainment 8 England 46.1
39.7% Grade 5+ English & maths England 45.4%
22.5% Persistent absence England 17.8%

The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare Colne Community School with Essex County Council and England.

Key stage 4 (GCSE) 43 Attainment 8 score

Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.

This school Essex County Council England

Attainment 8 score · Average across 8 GCSEs, out of 90 43
Essex County Council 45.1 England 46.1 -3.1 vs England
Grade 5+ in English & maths · A strong pass 39.7%
Essex County Council 43.1% England 45.4% -5.7 vs England
Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils 32.5
Essex County Council 31.1 England 34.9 -2.4 vs England
Disadvantage gap · Attainment 8 points; smaller is better 13.3
Essex County Council 17.8 England 15.5 -2.2 vs England
Disadvantaged pupils in the year group · Context for the scores above 20.7%
Essex County Council 21.8% England 28.2%
Pupils in the year group · Small cohorts swing wildly 242
Attendance 22.5% Persistently absent pupils

Absence across the whole school year.

This school Essex County Council England

Persistently absent pupils · Missed 10%+ of sessions; lower is better 22.5%
Essex County Council 17.7% England 17.8% +4.7 vs England
Overall absence · Lower is better 8.5%
Essex County Council 6.9% England 6.8% +1.8 vs England
What pupils do after GCSEs 93% In education, apprenticeship or work

Still in education, an apprenticeship or work a year after key stage 4.

This school Essex County Council England

In education, apprenticeship or work 93%
Essex County Council 92% England 92% +1 vs England
Same, for disadvantaged pupils 94%
Essex County Council 81% England 83% +11 vs England
About this data source & caveats

Progress 8 is not published for 2024–2025. This year group missed their key stage 2 tests in 2020, so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

Attendance comparisons are pupil-weighted averages we calculate from every school’s published absence figure — the DfE absence file has no local authority or England rows of its own.

We show the headline measures only. Threshold and curriculum-policy figures — grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc entry and points, the per-subject key stage 2 breakdown, academic and applied splits at 16 to 18 — reflect admissions and curriculum choices more than school quality, so they are left to GOV.UK. Progress measures matter most because they compare pupils with others who started at the same level; attainment on its own largely tracks a school’s intake.

Figures are the Department for Education’s official published results for Colne Community School. Results are suppressed where too few pupils were entered. England figures are the average for state-funded schools. “Top x%” is this school’s position among all schools in England with a published figure for that measure — the DfE does not publish league table rankings.

Source: Compare school and college performance, Department for Education. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Location & catchment area

Indicative catchment Other secondary schools

Indicative only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to Colne Community School than to any other secondary school. Real admissions depend on the school’s own policy (straight-line distance, siblings, faith, feeder schools and available places) and change each year. Always confirm with the school and local authority admissions team.