Alec Hunter Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,058 pupils
80% stayed in education · Attainment 8 45.7
Academy converter
St Helena School
- Pupils on roll
- 986of 1,000 places
- Free school meals
- 33.5%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 204
- Ofsted
- Good, 30 January 2024Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: St Helena School (URN 115364, until 1 March 2012).
What the data says
St Helena School has no sixth form. Of the 190 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 36% moved to a sixth form college, 47% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 36% of leavers went to one, roughly twice the England rate of 13%.
Food Preparation and Nutrition is unusually popular at GCSE: 20% of the year group took it, against 8% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were in line with the national picture: Attainment 8 of 46.0 against 46.1 across England and 45.1 in Essex, with 36% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Essex and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | St Helena School | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 190 | 15,970 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 91% | 92% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 87% | 86% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 3% | 37% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 36% | 9% | 13% |
| — further education college | 47% | 38% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 6% | 5% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 4% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | St Helena School | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 46.0 | 45.1 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 36% | 43% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 60% | 64% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 42% | 39% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.01 | 3.97 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 25% | 22% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 31.5 | 31.1 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 50.8 | 48.9 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 17% | 9% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 203 | 100% | 88% | 18% | 22% | 67% |
| English Language | 203 | 100% | 89% | 13% | 20% | 66% |
| English Literature | 193 | 95% | 86% | 11% | 21% | 67% |
| Combined Science | 163 | 80% | 65% | 10% | 9% | 60% |
| History | 128 | 63% | 41% | 23% | 26% | 60% |
| French | 85 | 42% | 18% | 16% | 29% | 69% |
| Geography | 67 | 33% | 41% | 12% | 25% | 51% |
| Fine Art | 49 | 24% | 9% | 29% | 28% | 86% |
| Computer Science | 48 | 24% | 13% | 19% | 30% | 58% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 41 | 20% | 8% | 22% | 21% | 85% |
| Biology | 38 | 19% | 23% | 37% | 45% | 79% |
| Physics | 30 | 15% | 23% | 63% | 46% | 93% |
| Chemistry | 30 | 15% | 23% | 33% | 47% | 93% |
| Religious Studies | 23 | 11% | 31% | 17% | 32% | 87% |
| Photography | 22 | 11% | 6% | 9% | 19% | 100% |
| Design and Technology | 18 | 9% | 11% | 0% | 23% | 50% |
| Music | 6 | 3% | 5% | 50% | 33% | 83% |
| Turkish | 3 | 1% | 0% | — | 71% | — |
| Russian | 2 | 1% | 0% | — | 87% | — |
| Polish | 1 | 0% | 1% | — | 84% | — |
| Italian | 1 | 0% | 0% | — | 53% | — |
| Chinese | 1 | 0% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multimedia | 45 | — | — |
| Health Studies | 44 | — | — |
| Hospitality / Catering Studies | 39 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 37 | — | — |
| Childcare Skills | 35 | — | — |
| Speech and Drama | 25 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 19 | — | — |
Other secondary schools in Essex
Anglo European School
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,533 pupils
96% stayed in education · Attainment 8 55.6
Beauchamps High School
Foundation school · sixth form · 1,486 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 48.1
Becket Keys Church of England Free School
Free schools · sixth form · 1,152 pupils
93% stayed in education · Attainment 8 56.0
Bmat Stem Academy
University technical college · sixth form · 240 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 28.1
Brentwood County High School
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 1,097 pupils
78% stayed in education · Attainment 8 43.2
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.