Cecil Jones Academy

About Cecil Jones Academy

Cecil Jones Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form in Southend-on-Sea, a local authority where five of the thirteen secondary schools hold an Outstanding Ofsted rating. The school itself ranks ninth out of ten schools in the LA on Progress 8, placing it in the bottom half of the local league table. The top-performing peers in the area are Westcliff High School for Boys Academy, Westcliff High School for Girls, and Southend High School for Boys, all of which sit well above Cecil Jones on the same measure. Headteacher Richard Micek leads a school with 1,016 pupils against a capacity of 1,585, and the proportion of students eligible for free school meals stands at 46.5 per cent, well above the national average. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in 2023, rated it Good across all five categories — overall effectiveness, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and sixth-form provision — a significant improvement from its previous Inadequate rating in 2017.

Academically, Cecil Jones Academy’s Progress 8 score of -0.75 is classified as well below average, and it ranks 2,892nd nationally out of 3,141 schools. The Attainment 8 score sits at 31.2, and only 15.6 per cent of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths. The EBacc entry rate is 51.9 per cent, but just 4.4 per cent achieved the EBacc at grade 5 or above. For context, the local authority average Progress 8 score is +0.12, meaning Cecil Jones is significantly behind the typical Southend school. At A-level, the picture is more mixed: the value-added score is -0.04, which is banded as Average, and the average points per entry is 25.08, equivalent to a C- grade. The best three A-levels average out at a D+. With 45 pupils in the sixth form, it is a relatively small cohort, and the school offers a full range of A-level subjects alongside vocational options.

The school is oversubscribed for 2025/26, with 362 applications for 214 places and 161 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.69. Facilities include a theatre, sports hall, astro turf, music rooms, and a sixth form centre, and the extracurricular programme is broad, with clubs ranging from Model UN and Young Enterprise to orchestra and gardening. SEND provision covers nine categories, including autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language needs, and social, emotional and mental health support. Parent View responses, based on 204 respondents, are overwhelmingly positive: 97 per cent would recommend the school, and strong majorities agree that children are happy, feel safe, and that the school has high expectations. This is a school that has turned around its Ofsted rating and, while its academic results remain below the LA average, it clearly serves a community with high levels of disadvantage and enjoys strong parental backing. It will suit families who value a supportive, inclusive environment and a school that is actively improving, rather than one chasing top-tier exam results.

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