Columbus School and College

State-Funded School

columbus-school-and-college-essex-east-of-england

East of EnglandRegion

EssexLocal Authority

ChelmsfordConstituency

CM1 4ZBPostcode

Academic Performance

Not published

Ofsted

No overall grade

About the School

Columbus School and College is a state-funded special for pupils aged 3–19, located in Essex, East of England.

It currently serves 285 pupils. Columbus School and College is part of LIFT SCHOOLS.

Ofsted Rating

Safeguarding effective

Rating last maintained

2025

Subject Areas

Leadership &management

Inadequate

Quality ofeducation

Requires improvement

Personaldevelopment

Requires improvement

Behaviour &attitudes

Requires improvement

Sixth formprovision

Inadequate

Academic Performance

No key stage 2 or 4 results are published for this school.

Ethnicity

White

73%

Asian

Black

Mixed

Chinese

Any other group

<1%

Unclassified

Pupils

285

Total Pupils

68%Boys

32%Girls

Pupil Characteristics

Free school meals

34%

England average

27%

First language not English

10%

England average

22%

Young carers

England average

0%25%50%75%100%

DfE school census, January 2026.

Key Information

Phase: Special
Age range: 3 – 19
Deprivation band: Less deprived
Total pupils: 285
IDACI quintile: 2 (More deprived)
MAT name: LIFT SCHOOLS

Inspection history

3 graded inspections published by Ofsted. Ungraded and monitoring visits are not shown.

Report published					Overall
8 Jul 2025	Inadequate	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Requires improvement	Not judged
16 Sept 2024	Good	Good	Good	Good	Good
21 Jul 2014	Outstanding	Not reported in this inspection	Not reported in this inspection	Not reported in this inspection	Outstanding

A grey dot means Ofsted did not report that judgement in the inspection of the day — the sub-judgements shown here were introduced with the 2019 framework.

Ofsted data as at 31 December 2024. A school may have been inspected since, or had an ungraded visit that does not change its grade — check Ofsted’s own record.