St Benedict's Catholic College
Secondary · Voluntary aided school · Mixed · Essex
Norman Way, Colchester, CO3 3US
76
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
63%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
94.2%
15.3% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
905
Capacity used
Over capacity103%
876 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
63%
1st preference success rate
132 of 211 families who put it first got an offer
171
Places offered
808
Total applications
4.7
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 211 | 132 | ● 63% |
| 2nd preference | 194 | 34 | ● 18% |
| 3rd preference | 177 | 4 | ● 2% |
| Later preferences (4th–6th) | 226 | 1 | ● 0% |
| Total | 808 | 171 | 21% |
1st preference success by year
Essex lets families list 6 preferences. 2 applications came from outside the council area (0 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Voluntary aided school
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- Roman Catholic
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- J E Santinelli
- Address
- Norman Way, Colchester, CO3 3US
- Phone
- 01206549222
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward / constituency
- Lexden and Braiswick · Colchester
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 115382
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 9% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 17% | — | — |
| SEN support | 18% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 3 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
905 pupils · 876 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 23
19 July 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 915 pupils
Attendance
94.2%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
5.8%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
15.3%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
1.6%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
0.5%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 53.5 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.23 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 61% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 82% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.70 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 54.7 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 61.7% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 81.7% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 45% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.72 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 180 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 180 | 22% | 75% | 87% | |
| Mathematics | 179 | 30% | 66% | 85% | |
| English Literature | 177 | 23% | 81% | 92% | |
| Religious Studies | 170 | 39% | 81% | 91% | |
| Combined Science | 123 | 15% | 57% | 77% | |
| French | 109 | 15% | 61% | 81% | |
| History | 72 | 43% | 74% | 86% | |
| Business | 58 | 22% | 62% | 79% | |
| Geography | 57 | 28% | 72% | 88% | |
| Statistics | 56 | 7% | 34% | 75% | |
| Biology | 55 | 31% | 84% | 93% | |
| Physics | 53 | 40% | 83% | 91% |
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Essex council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.