Colchester education services largely good, but seven need to improve

The regulatory body for educational services is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills – known to most as Ofsted.

Its job is to carry out inspections of services providing education and skills for learners of all ages, and though inspectors would surely want to rate every service as outstanding, there are inevitably some educational bodies which fall short.

In these cases, it is Ofsted’s job to identify the shortcomings and provide support to a service before an action plan is then carried out.

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Colchester has plenty of strong schools, academies, and institutions which offer apprenticeships and further education.

For the most part, the good and outstanding institutions far outweigh those which are inadequate or requiring improvement.

Nonetheless, there are still seven services which fell short in their last inspection, and will have staff working hard to improve when inspectors next come knocking.

Here are the educational services in Colchester which did not make the grade when they were last inspected.

Colchester Royal Grammar School

• Address: 6 Lexden Rd, Colchester, CO3 3ND

• Rating: Inadequate

• Date of most recent full inspection: May 11, 2021

Colchester Royal Grammar School is perhaps one of the most well-known schools in the city, but an Ofsted report in 2021 gave it national press headlines for the wrong reasons. 

Challenging – Colchester Royal Grammar School is looking to make improvements after a hugely damaging Ofsted report was published in 2021 (Image: Newsquest)

It was then that inspectors wrote "the school does not prepare pupils well enough for life in modern Britain."

A monitoring visit took place in February last year, where an inspector observed "effective action towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation."

EASI Hairdressing Academy Ltd

• Address: 39a Head Street, Colchester, CO1 1NH

• Rating: Requires Improvement

• Date of most recent full inspection: July 18, 2022

An apprentice provider for hairdressers, Easi Hairdressing Academy was rated as requiring improvement by inspectors last May.

At the time, inspectors reported apprentices were unprepared for their final assessments and did not always receive consistent and clear feedback.

Behaviour and attitudes, however, were rated as being good.

Here are the other establishments in the Colchester area which Ofsted says need to set higher standards.

Chappel Primary School

• Address: The Street, Chappel Colchester, CO6 2DD

• Rating: Inadequate

• Date of most recent full inspection: November 22, 2022

Read the report summing up the inspection here.

Fordham All Saints Primary School

• Address: Mill Road, Fordham, Colchester, CO6 3NN

• Rating: Inadequate

• Date of most recent full inspection: November 29, 2022

Read the report summing up the inspection here.

Stoke-by-Nayland Church of England Primary School

• Address: School St, Stoke-by-Nayland, Colchester CO6 4QY

• Rating: Inadequate

• Date of most recent full inspection: October 12, 2022

Read the report summing up the inspection here.

Thurstable School Sports College and Sixth Form Centre

• Address: Maypole Road, Tiptree, Essex, CO5 0EW

• Rating: Requires Improvement

• Date of most recent full inspection: September 21, 2022

Read the report summing up the inspection here.

St Mary's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Ardleigh

• Address: Colchester Road, Ardleigh, Colchester, Essex, CO7 7NS

• Rating: Requires Improvement

• Date of most recent full inspection: October 4, 2022

Read the report summing up the inspection here.