Looking to move to Colchester? Our guide on the best schools in the area.

Finding the perfect family home is no easy task. It can take months to stumble across, or you could be lucky and find it immediately. A family home needs to suit everyone in the household, and one element that may swing a certain property in your favour are the nearby schools, depending on where your child is with their education. 

Here at Palmer and Partners, we pride ourselves on our honesty and the way we work with such integrity. We aim to show you properties that are based on your requirements and vision. After all, it’s the most expensive thing you’ll ever buy!

Colchester is only a 50 minute train journey to London Liverpool Street and is becoming a town that commuters target. Life in the city is too expensive for many, putting too much of a strain on their ‘downtime’. Colchester is a perfect town to reside in for those who desire a short commute to work, and to be able to visit rural, seaside places at the weekend. It is also very close to London Stansted airport, as well as London Southend airport. As a result of this, the Colchester property market is booming.

More couples and young families are looking to move in and around Colchester because of the links into London, the accessibility to quaint, seaside towns and also because of the quality of schools. We have put together a list of the top primary and secondary schools in the area as a helpful guide for you. Palmer and Partners have a number of houses for sale in Colchester and also lettings. To view our listings, follow this link. Although we recognise that ratings don’t always reveal what happens in a school, most of them are pretty accurate, and if you’re new to the area, you need to see somewhere that fits in with your family. We used information from The Schools Insights website as it takes a number of different reports into account, including the latest Ofsted report.


The top primary schools are:
  1. St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School 
  2. Braiswick Primary School - this is also very close to North Station (about a 10 minute walk).  
  3. Iceni Academy 

The top secondary schools are:
  1. Colchester County High for Girls 
  2. Colchester Royal Grammar School
  3. The Gilberd School 
  4. St Benedict’s

We’ve added four secondary schools as the top two are independent schools and the other two are the best comprehensive in the Colchester area.

To speak to our expert agents, call Palmer and Partners Colchester on 01206 572233.