Ely College
Secondary · Academy converter · Mixed · Cambridgeshire
Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH
75
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Improved significantly
No graded inspection
Application demand
99%
1st preference success · Not oversubscribed
Attendance
92.3%
18.3% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,635
Capacity used
Nearly full99%
1,650 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
99%
1st preference success rate
250 of 252 families who put it first got an offer
258
Places offered
376
Total applications
1.5
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 252 | 250 | ● 99% |
| 2nd preference | 99 | 8 | ● 8% |
| 3rd preference | 25 | 0 | ● 0% |
| Total | 376 | 258 | 69% |
1st preference success by year
Cambridgeshire lets families list 3 preferences. 5 applications came from outside the council area (1 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
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Simon Warburton
- Address
- Downham Road, Ely, CB6 2SH
- Phone
- 01353667763
- Local authority
- Cambridgeshire
- Ward / constituency
- Ely West · Ely and East Cambridgeshire
- Area
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- URN
- 143404
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 17% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 4% | — | — |
| SEN support | 6% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 1 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: MERIDIAN TRUST
1,635 pupils · 1,650 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 25
26 March 2025
Ungraded inspection
Improved significantly
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,425 pupils
Attendance
92.3%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
7.7%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
18.3%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.8%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
1.1%
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 | 52.3 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.65 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 58% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 80% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.57 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
A-level results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 26.08 | — | — |
Average grade: C- (England B-)
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 49.7 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 53.5% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 73.6% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 36.3% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.33 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 284 | — |
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 | 25.06 | 35 |
| Average grade | C- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 0% | 17% |
| A-level students | 63 | — |
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+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biology | 282 | 14% | 47% | 65% | |
| Chemistry | 282 | 18% | 46% | 66% | |
| Mathematics | 282 | 23% | 59% | 79% | |
| English Language | 282 | 23% | 60% | 72% | |
| English Literature | 282 | 20% | 66% | 79% | |
| Physics | 276 | 17% | 50% | 63% | |
| History | 163 | 37% | 60% | 67% | |
| Geography | 158 | 35% | 63% | 72% | |
| Religious Studies | 98 | 34% | 57% | 64% | |
| Spanish | 83 | 25% | 53% | 72% | |
| Business | 61 | 34% | 69% | 80% | |
| Media / Film / TV | 57 | 26% | 63% | 77% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 15 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Sociology | 12 | 0% | 8% | 42% | |
| Mathematics | 11 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Biology | 9 | 0% | 0% | 11% | |
| Chemistry | 8 | 0% | 0% | 13% | |
| History | 7 | 0% | 0% | 57% | |
| Geography | 7 | 0% | 29% | 71% | |
| Photography | 7 | 0% | 29% | 43% | |
| Physics | 6 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Business Studies | 6 | 0% | 17% | 50% | |
| Accounting and Finance | 6 | 0% | 0% | 17% | |
| Government and Politics | 5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #147 of 1,030 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 15343: Ely College
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Applications | ≤5 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
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) | 28% | — | — |
| Apprenticeships | 11% | — | — |
| Any education or training | 32% | — | — |
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 Cambridgeshire 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.