Burnt Mill Academy

About Burnt Mill Academy

If you're a parent in Harlow weighing up Burnt Mill Academy, the first thing you'll notice is that it's a popular choice. For the 2025/26 intake, the school received 451 applications for 203 places, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.22, meaning more than two families applied for every spot. Of those, 159 were first-preference applications, and all of those families were offered a place. That suggests a strong local reputation, though the school doesn't publish a parent-view survey percentage to back that up directly. The school is a mixed, non-religious secondary for ages 11 to 16, with no sixth form, so you'd be looking elsewhere for post-16 options. It's a Good school according to its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2023, a step down from the Outstanding rating it held in its previous inspection back in 2012. The current inspection gave it Good across all four graded categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

Academically, Burnt Mill sits broadly in line with the local average. Its Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 results was -0.21, which is very close to the Essex local authority average of -0.18. That places it 43rd out of 86 similar schools in the county, and 3rd out of 7 schools in Harlow specifically. The Attainment 8 score was 44.6, and 62.1% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths, dropping to 47.3% for a grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score was 4.04, with 30.8% of pupils entering the EBacc combination of subjects. The school's Progress 8 banding is rated as 'Average', and the breakdown shows slightly negative progress in open subjects (-0.56) and languages (-0.42), but broadly neutral progress in maths (-0.17) and English (-0.05). Nationally, it ranks in the bottom 50% of schools by Progress 8, sitting at around the 64th percentile.

On the practical side, Burnt Mill has a decent range of facilities for a state school, including a swimming pool, astro turf, playing fields, a sports hall, art studios, a theatre, and science labs. Sports on offer include swimming, cricket, football, hockey, rugby, and badminton, and there are clubs for drama, choir, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, orchestra, and a school newspaper. The school has a capacity of 1,200 and currently has 951 pupils on roll, so there is some spare capacity. It also has a broad SEND provision, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, physical disability, and autistic spectrum disorder. With 28.5% of pupils eligible for free school meals, it serves a relatively disadvantaged catchment. This is a solid, well-subscribed local comprehensive that performs in line with the area, and it will suit families looking for a mainstream secondary with good facilities and a wide range of extracurriculars, particularly if you value swimming and the arts.

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