The Boswells School
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · Essex
Burnham Road, Chelmsford, CM1 6LY
66
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
91%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
92.8%
18.8% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,423
Capacity used
Nearly full99%
1,431 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
91%
1st preference success rate
200 of 219 families who put it first got an offer
241
Places offered
846
Total applications
3.5
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 219 | 200 | ● 91% |
| 2nd preference | 158 | 20 | ● 13% |
| 3rd preference | 146 | 10 | ● 7% |
| Later preferences (4th–6th) | 323 | 11 | ● 3% |
| Total | 846 | 241 | 28% |
1st preference success by year
Essex lets families list 6 preferences. 1 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
- Academy converter
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Stephen Mansell
- Address
- Burnham Road, Chelmsford, CM1 6LY
- Phone
- 01245264451
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward / constituency
- The Lawns · Chelmsford
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 137874
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 16% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 10% | — | — |
| SEN support | 8% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 1 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: THE CHELMSFORD LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
1,423 pupils · 1,431 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 23
22 February 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,238 pupils
Attendance
92.8%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
7.2%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
18.8%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
2.9%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
1.3%
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 | 46.4 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | -0.16 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 48% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 67% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.08 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 37.63 | — | — |
Average grade: B- (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 48.4 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 46.3% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 70.4% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 37.5% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.34 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 240 | — |
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.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 38.05 | 35 |
| Average grade | B- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 10.5% | 17% |
| A-level students | 90 | — |
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+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 239 | 21% | 52% | 76% | |
| English Language | 238 | 16% | 57% | 73% | |
| English Literature | 210 | 14% | 59% | 78% | |
| Combined Science | 191 | 14% | 49% | 73% | |
| History | 108 | 29% | 55% | 69% | |
| Geography | 88 | 28% | 76% | 85% | |
| Religious Studies | 70 | 23% | 64% | 74% | |
| Physical Education | 64 | 16% | 53% | 66% | |
| Business | 58 | 31% | 76% | 84% | |
| French | 53 | 47% | 92% | 94% | |
| Spanish | 43 | 51% | 93% | 98% | |
| Biology | 42 | 43% | 86% | 90% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 43 | 0% | 12% | 51% | |
| Law | 26 | 0% | 31% | 81% | |
| Media / Film / TV Studies | 23 | 0% | 9% | 65% | |
| Mathematics | 22 | 27% | 50% | 64% | |
| Sociology | 20 | 15% | 30% | 55% | |
| Economics | 15 | 0% | 20% | 53% | |
| Biology | 13 | 0% | 15% | 31% | |
| Business Studies | 10 | 10% | 10% | 90% | |
| English Language | 10 | 0% | 10% | 50% | |
| History | 9 | 0% | 22% | 67% | |
| Physics | 9 | 33% | 67% | 78% | |
| Religious Studies | 9 | 11% | 33% | 89% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 14264: The Boswells School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | ≤5 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
Where students go next
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education (university) | 64% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 6% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 66% | — | — |
Oxford/Cambridge application numbers aren't published per school in official data, so university progression is shown instead.
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.