Shenfield High School

About Shenfield High School

Shenfield High School was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024, a significant improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2012. The school’s Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 academic year sits at -0.3, which is below the national average and places it in the bottom 50 nationally. This metric measures how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and their GCSEs compared with similar students across England. While the school’s Attainment 8 score of 43.2 is respectable, the negative Progress 8 figure suggests that pupils arrive with higher prior attainment than they leave with. In Brentwood, Shenfield ranks 5th out of 6 schools on Progress 8, and 46th out of 86 similar schools across the wider Essex local authority. The local authority average Progress 8 is -0.18, meaning Shenfield’s score is slightly below the typical for its area.

At GCSE level, 60.3% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, though this drops to 37.6% when looking at grade 5 or above. The EBacc average points score is 3.44, and only 7.2% of pupils entered the EBacc combination of subjects. In the sixth form, the picture is more positive: the school’s value added score of 0.13 is above average, meaning A-level students make better progress than similar students nationally. The average points per entry is 33.55, equivalent to a C+ grade, and the best three A-levels average out at a C+ as well. Ofsted rated the sixth form provision as Good in the 2024 inspection, and the school’s progress banding for sixth form is classified as Above average. With 125 pupils in the sixth form cohort, it’s a sizeable provision that appears to add genuine value for students who stay on.

The school is heavily oversubscribed: for 232 places in the 2025/26 academic year, there were 1,038 total applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 4.47. First preference applications numbered 234, with 200 first preference offers made. Shenfield has a wide range of facilities including science labs, a swimming pool, art studios, a theatre, a sixth form centre, tennis courts and a gymnasium. Sports on offer include football, netball, gymnastics, rugby, cricket, swimming, badminton, tennis and dance, while clubs range from debate and coding to orchestra, DofE, chess, book club and eco club. The school supports a broad spectrum of SEND needs, from dyslexia and moderate learning difficulties to autistic spectrum disorder and physical disabilities. With 17.7% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the school serves a reasonably diverse intake. It will suit families who value a large, mixed comprehensive with strong sixth form outcomes and a wide extracurricular offer, but who are aware that GCSE progress scores are below the local average.

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