UK Schools
Thurstable School
Thurstable School is a mixed secondary academy in Colchester, Essex County Council, teaching 932 pupils aged 11 to 16. Ofsted graded quality of education as Good at its most recent inspection in May 2025. In 2024–2025, GCSE Attainment 8 was 41.9 (England 46.1). The 2025–2026 school year runs from 3 September 2025 to 21 July 2026.
Ofsted inspection
The latest published Ofsted judgement for Thurstable School.
From September 2024 Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. These are the graded judgement areas from the latest inspection.
Scale: Outstanding Good Requires improvement Inadequate
Term dates & holidays 2025–2026
Autumn, spring and summer terms, half-terms, INSET days and bank holidays for Thurstable School.
- 3 Autumn Term starts
- 27–31 Autumn Half Term
- 19 Autumn Term ends
- 22–31 Christmas Holiday
- 25 Christmas Day (Bank Holiday)
- 26 Boxing Day (Bank Holiday)
- 1–2 Christmas Holiday
- 1 New Year's Day (Bank Holiday)
- 5 Spring Term starts
- 16–20 Spring Half Term
- 27 Spring Term ends
- 30–31 Easter Holiday
- 1–10 Easter Holiday
- 3 Good Friday (Bank Holiday)
- 6 Easter Monday (Bank Holiday)
- 13 Summer Term starts
- 4 Early May Bank Holiday
- 25–29 Summer Half Term
- 25 Spring Bank Holiday
- 21 Summer Term ends
- 22–31 Summer Holiday
- 1–31 Summer Holiday
- 31 Summer Bank Holiday
Key dates (2025–2026)
- Autumn Term starts Sep 3, 2025 Term
- Autumn Half Term Oct 27-31, 2025 Holiday
- Autumn Term ends Dec 19, 2025 Term
- Christmas Holiday Dec 22, 2025 - Jan 2, 2026 Holiday
- Spring Term starts Jan 5, 2026 Term
- Spring Half Term Feb 16-20, 2026 Holiday
- Spring Term ends Mar 27, 2026 Term
- Easter Holiday Mar 30 - Apr 10, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Term starts Apr 13, 2026 Term
- Summer Half Term May 25-29, 2026 Holiday
- Summer Term ends Jul 21, 2026 Term
- Summer Holiday Jul 22 - Aug 31, 2026 Holiday
- New Year's Day (Bank Holiday) Jan 1, 2026 Holiday
- Good Friday (Bank Holiday) Apr 3, 2026 Holiday
- Easter Monday (Bank 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 (Bank Holiday) Dec 25, 2025 Holiday
- Boxing Day (Bank Holiday) Dec 26, 2025 Holiday
Exam results & performance
The measures that carry the most signal. Open a section to compare Thurstable School with Essex County Council and England.
Key stage 4 (GCSE) 41.9 Attainment 8 score
Year 11 results across eight qualifications, including English and maths.
This school Essex County Council England
Attendance 24.2% Persistently absent pupils
Absence across the whole school year.
This school Essex County Council England
What pupils do after GCSEs 89% In education, apprenticeship or work
Still in education, an apprenticeship or work a year after key stage 4.
This school Essex County Council 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 Thurstable 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 only. This is a nearest-school (Voronoi) estimate — the area closer to Thurstable 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.