Thames Park Secondary School

About Thames Park Secondary School

Thames Park Secondary School in Thurrock is a state secondary for 11-to-16 year olds that is currently running well below its physical capacity, with 740 pupils against a maximum of 900. That spare capacity might come as a surprise given the sheer weight of demand: for the 2025/26 intake, the school received 625 applications for just 179 places, an oversubscription ratio of 3.49. Of those, 192 families put it down as their first preference, and 155 first-preference offers were made. The school’s intake is notably more disadvantaged than the national average — 29.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, compared with the typical secondary figure of around 23-24% across England. The headteacher is Sam Dyer, and the school has no religious character. It does not have a sixth form or nursery provision, so pupils will need to move on after Year 11.

Academically, Thames Park was rated Good across the board in its most recent Ofsted inspection, which took place in January 2023. Every graded category — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management — was judged to be Good, the second-highest rating. The school does not have a sixth form, so there are no A-Level results to report, and the data does not include its Progress 8 score or KS2 SATs outcomes. However, the local authority average Progress 8 for Thurrock is 0.14, which is slightly above the national average of zero. For context, the strongest performer in the area is Harris Academy Chafford Hundred, which sits 2.2 km away and holds an Outstanding rating — one of only two Outstanding secondaries among the 13 state secondaries in Thurrock.

The school offers a solid range of facilities, including a sports hall, swimming pool, astro turf, gymnasium, library, science labs and an ICT suite. Sports on offer include cricket, rugby, dance, cross country, basketball, rounders, netball and gymnastics, and there is a decent selection of clubs such as gardening, coding, choir, science club, drama, book club, eco club and a newspaper club. For families with children who have special educational needs, the school lists provisions for specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, autistic spectrum disorder, and other difficulty or disability. Given the high oversubscription ratio, families considering Thames Park should be prepared to apply as a first preference to maximise their chances of an offer.

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