Colchester Prep & High School
Colchester Prep & High School is an independent school in Colchester for boys and girls aged 2 to 16. It has 280 pupils and room for 558.
Wellesley Road, Colchester, CO3 3HD01206 573389colchesterhighschool.co.ukMs Karen Gracie-Langrick principalAll details
Inspection
This private school is inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, not Ofsted. Its reports are at isi.net.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
43 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 43 | 37 | 55 | 41 | 54 | 38 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 61.0 | 57.6 | 61.0 | 58.9 | 58.8 | 43.9 | 46.0 | 46.8 |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 65% | 76% | 80% | 73% | 70% | 53% | 44% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 93% | 92% | 89% | 93% | 98% | 79% | 65% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 5.39 | 5.07 | 5.41 | 5.25 | 5.21 | 3.65 | 4.06 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 26% | 24% | 40% | 37% | 37% | 0% | 39% | 41% |
Subjects
Results came out for 17 GCSE subjects in 2025. Each figure is the share of pupils who got a grade 5 or better, next to the average for state secondaries in England.
Strongest subjects
The small number is how many pupils sat each subject. Subjects with fewer than six pupils aren't published.
Every subject against England, 2025
| Subject | Entries | Grades 9 to 7 | Grades 9 to 5 | Grades 9 to 4 | England 9 to 5 | Rank in England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 43 | 33% | 67% | 93% | 53% | – |
| English Language | 43 | 40% | 84% | 95% | 54% | – |
| English Literature | 42 | 48% | 98% | 100% | 58% | – |
| Combined Science | 27 | 15% | 70% | 85% | 36% | – |
| Business | 20 | 30% | 90% | 95% | 51% | – |
| Geography | 19 | 53% | 90% | 100% | 51% | – |
| History | 18 | 94% | 100% | 100% | 52% | – |
| Statistics | 16 | 56% | 94% | 100% | 51% | – |
| Physics | 16 | 50% | 100% | 100% | 82% | – |
| Biology | 16 | 81% | 100% | 100% | 82% | – |
| Chemistry | 16 | 81% | 100% | 100% | 81% | – |
| Computer Science | 12 | 25% | 67% | 92% | 56% | – |
| French | 10 | 70% | 100% | 100% | 60% | – |
| Physical Education | 9 | 33% | 78% | 100% | 56% | – |
| Religious Studies | 8 | 63% | 88% | 88% | 60% | – |
| Art and Design | 7 | 14% | 86% | 100% | 58% | – |
| Spanish | 6 | 33% | 100% | 100% | 54% | – |
In combined science each pupil gets two grades and we count the lower one. Rankings only include state secondaries where 20 or more pupils sat the subject.
A level and sixth-form results, 2017
12 students finished sixth-form courses.
All sixth-form measures, year by year
| Measure | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Students | 12 | 18 |
| Average A level points per entryA level APS per entry | 21.75 | – |
| Average A level grade | D+ | – |
| Best three A levelsBest 3 A levels APS | 28.15 | – |
| AAB or better in subjects universities likeAAB+ in two facilitating subjects | 0% | – |
| A level progressA level value added | +0.01 | +0.06 |
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. None of the gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Essex council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 280 | 281 | 287 | 299 | 314 | 318 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 22% | 22% | 13% | 23% | 17% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester Royal Grammar School | Academy (grammar) | 230 m | 1,073 | Report card 2026 | 100 | Compare |
| The Sixth Form College Colchester | Academy 16-19 converter | 570 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Hamilton Primary School | Council | 590 m | 420 | No overall grade 2025 | 77 | Compare |
| St John's Green Primary School | Council | 600 m | 591 | Good 2023 | 53 | Compare |
| Kingswode Hoe School | Academy | 770 m | 167 | Report card 2026 | – | Compare |
| Colchester Institute | Further education | 780 m | – | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Mary's School for Girls | Independent | 830 m | 424 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| St Helena School | Academy | 970 m | 986 | Good 2024 | 43 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Colchester Prep & High School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Colchester Prep & High School yet.
How good are Colchester Prep & High School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 65% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 61.0, against 46.8 for England.
How many pupils does Colchester Prep & High School have?
280 pupils aged 2 to 16 were on the roll in January 2024. It has 558 places, so it is 50% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Wellesley Road, Colchester, CO3 3HD
- Telephone
- 01206 573389
- Website
- www.colchesterhighschool.co.uk
- Principal
- Ms Karen Gracie-Langrick
- Type of school
- Independent school (Other independent school, independent schools)
- Phase
- Independent school, ages 2-16, with nursery
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Local authority
- Essex
- Ward
- New Town and Christ Church
- Constituency
- Colchester
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 January 1953
- URN
- 115409 · LAESTAB 8816015 · UKPRN 10015152
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.