Saint Nicholas School
Saint Nicholas School is an independent school in Essex for boys and girls aged 2 to 16. It has 439 pupils and room for 550.
Hobbs Cross Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NJ01279 429910saintnicholasschool.netMr Terence Ayres headmasterAll 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
40 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 | 40 | 44 | 42 | 33 | 31 | 28 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 46.0 | 47.1 | 54.5 | 57.4 | 53.1 | 54.6 | 46.0 | 46.8 |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 62% | 64% | 55% | 46% | 44% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 0% | 0% | 79% | 94% | 90% | 93% | 65% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 4.08 | 4.41 | 4.93 | 5.19 | 4.65 | 4.84 | 4.06 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 0% | 0% | 50% | 67% | 45% | 46% | 39% | 41% |
Subjects
Results came out for 14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art and Design | 44 | 48% | 96% | 100% | 58% | – |
| English Literature | 39 | 28% | 82% | 92% | 58% | – |
| English Language | 39 | 36% | 72% | 92% | 54% | – |
| History | 28 | 18% | 50% | 75% | 52% | – |
| Combined Science | 24 | 17% | 75% | 88% | 36% | – |
| Chemistry | 15 | 53% | 93% | 100% | 81% | – |
| Biology | 14 | 43% | 100% | 100% | 82% | – |
| Physics | 14 | 21% | 100% | 100% | 82% | – |
| Spanish | 11 | 36% | 82% | 91% | 54% | – |
| Physical Education | 9 | 56% | 100% | 100% | 56% | – |
| Geography | 9 | 33% | 89% | 100% | 51% | – |
| French | 9 | 11% | 89% | 89% | 60% | – |
| Film Studies | 9 | 33% | 100% | 100% | 52% | – |
| Drama | 6 | 33% | 100% | 100% | 60% | – |
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.
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. Every gap at this school 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 | 439 | 489 | 473 | 510 | 475 | 458 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | – | – | – | – | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 14% | 15% | 18% | 8% | 8% |
| 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churchgate Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Harlow | Church of England | 170 m | 192 | Good 2024 | 18 | Compare |
| Newhall Primary Academy | Free school | 930 m | 497 | Good 2023 | 25 | Compare |
| Harlowbury Primary School | Academy | 950 m | 184 | Report card 2026 | 26 | Compare |
| Fawbert and Barnard's Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 208 | Good 2022 | 65 | Compare |
| Mark Hall Academy | Academy | 0.9 miles | 867 | No overall grade 2025 | 11 | Compare |
| Church Langley Community Primary School | Council | 1.1 miles | 406 | Good 2024 | 67 | Compare |
| Henry Moore Primary School | Academy | 1.2 miles | 555 | Not inspected | 88 | Compare |
| Tany's Dell Primary School and Nursery | Academy | 1.4 miles | 437 | Good 2022 | 85 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Saint Nicholas School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Saint Nicholas School yet.
How good are Saint Nicholas School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 0% 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 46.0, against 46.8 for England.
How many pupils does Saint Nicholas School have?
439 pupils aged 2 to 16 were on the roll in January 2024. It has 550 places, so it is 80% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Hobbs Cross Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NJ
- Telephone
- 01279 429910
- Website
- www.saintnicholasschool.net
- Headmaster
- Mr Terence Ayres
- 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
- Old Harlow
- Constituency
- Harlow
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 25 October 1957
- URN
- 115417 · LAESTAB 8816023 · UKPRN 10017759
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.