Living in Grays with children
Grays, Thurrock. What the published figures say about its schools, its homes and daily life, each with its source and date. 44,340 people in 16,915 households; 35.8% of households have dependent children (Census 2021 (ONS, via NOMIS), summed over the town's output areas).
Schools
24 schools: 16 state primary, 7 state secondary, 1 privateGrays on the schools map →Every school in Grays, with inspection, league band and the last place offered
State primary schools (16)
| School | Inspection | League rank | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quarry Hill Academy | School remains Outstanding | 1st (1/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Chadwell St Mary Primary School | Improved significantly | Top 8% (3/39) in Thurrock | — |
| West Thurrock Academy | Good | Top 16% (6/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Harris Primary Academy Chafford Hundred | Standards maintained | Top 31% (12/39) in Thurrock | — |
| The Gateway Primary Free School | Good | Top 36% (14/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Woodside Academy | School remains Good | Top 39% (15/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Tudor Court Primary School | Good | Top 42% (16/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Belmont Castle Academy | Ofsted report card | Top 49% (19/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Orsett Church of England Primary School | Ofsted report card | (20/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Warren Primary School | Good | (21/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Herringham Primary Academy | Good | (23/39) in Thurrock | — |
| St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School | School remains Good | (26/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Stifford Clays Primary School | Good | (27/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Little Thurrock Primary School | Good | (29/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Deneholm Primary School | School remains Good | (30/39) in Thurrock | — |
| Thameside Primary School | Good | (39/39) in Thurrock | — |
State secondary schools (7)
| School | Inspection | League rank | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harris Academy Chafford Hundred | Outstanding | 1st (1/13) in Thurrock | — |
| Grays Convent High School | School remains Good | Top 16% (2/13) in Thurrock | — |
| The Gateway Academy | Standards maintained | Top 24% (3/13) in Thurrock | — |
| Thames Park Secondary School | Good | Top 31% (4/13) in Thurrock | — |
| The Hathaway Academy | School remains Good | (8/13) in Thurrock | — |
| Orsett Heath Academy | Good | (11/13) in Thurrock | — |
| William Edwards School | Ofsted report card | (12/13) in Thurrock | — |
Private schools (1)
| School | Inspection | League rank | Last place offered |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Light Christian School | — | — | — |
Rank: the school's place among its council's schools of the same phase, from three years of DfE results (kinplace's league table, how it is worked out); schools with hidden or no results get none. Inspections: Ofsted and ISI. Last place offered: the council's offer-day figures. School register: DfE Get Information about Schools, updated 17 October 2026.
Homes and prices
Typical sale, last 12 months (Land Registry)The middle sale of each type, September 2025 to August 2026: half sold for more, half for less (40 detached, 129 semi-detached, 139 terraced, 70 flat or maisonette sales). Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, standard sales inside the ONS built-up area outline of Grays. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Look up a home in Grays →Getting around
Stops and stations (NaPTAN), and broadband (Ofcom)Source: DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes). Straight-line distances.
Gigabit broadband can be ordered at 93% of premises, and superfast (30 Mbit/s) at 98%, on average across the 1,091 postcodes in RM16, RM17. Check the postcode you are looking at: it can differ street by street.
Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, July 2025, fixed broadband coverage by postcode (an average of postcodes, not of homes).
Safety and environment
The town centre; addresses varyChildcare
Ofsted early years register; published pricesWhat Ofsted found: 1 outstanding; 1 strong or better in every area; 11 good, or expected standard; 1 requires improvement; 7 not inspected yet. A typical nursery place in this region costs about £8.63 an hour for a two-year-old.
All of them: 21 in Thurrock.
Sources: Ofsted, Childcare providers and inspections; each nursery's own fees page, read by 16 October 2026; Coram Family and Childcare, Childcare Survey 2026: average nursery price for 50 hours a week after the working-parent entitlement (paying for 20 hours), by region.
Childcare costs near you →Key dates, Thurrock
The next dates for families applyingApplication deadlines and offer days: Thurrock.
Every date, and reminders →Nearby towns
Keep Grays in your plan beside the other towns you are weighing up, and see each school here worked out for your address and your children.Add Grays to your plan
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. How we know · All sources.