The Ongar Academy

What The Ongar Academy does

The Ongar Academy is a state-funded UK secondary school (academy) located on Fyfield Road in Ongar, Essex, serving students in Years 7-11 (ages 11-16) from Ongar and surrounding villages. The school operates under a published admissions framework administered in coordination with Essex County Council, with a maximum of 120 Year 7 places per year, of which up to 75 are ring-fenced for students from three named local primary schools. It is a member of the Bridge Academy Trust, a multi-academy trust that supplies governance, HR, IT, and educational standards oversight across its schools. Mr Jonathan Sands (BMUS Hons, MA, NPQH) leads the school as Headteacher.

The school's core product is secondary education culminating in GCSEs, supplemented by enrichment offerings such as music lessons, the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme, and student wellbeing, careers (CEIAG), and safeguarding services. Its technology stack is entirely third-party: Edulink One for parent/student communication, Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint for staff and student portals, ParentPay for cashless payments, and a vendor-built website on the Greenhouse School Websites platform (relaunched 20 November 2025). It also maintains a Student Safeguarding Form for anonymous concern reporting and a website partially compliant with WCAG 2.2.

The revenue model is that of a UK state-funded academy: per-pupil government funding routed through the ESFA and coordinated with Essex County Council, with no tuition charged to families. Fee-based services (e.g., music lessons) are ancillary. Admissions are managed via the local authority for Year 7 intake and directly by the school office for mid-year transfers, with the school applying its own oversubscription criteria when oversubscribed. Strategic positioning emphasises village-community identity, the four core values of Resilience, Respect, Integrity and Community, and active teacher-training partnerships with Essex School Direct, Mid Essex ITT, University of East London, and Roehampton University.

Name

The Ongar Academy

Legal name

The Ongar Academy

Website

https://theongaracademy.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Ongar Academy is a state-funded UK secondary school (academy) in Ongar, Essex, serving Years 7-11 students from the local village catchment under the Bridge Academy Trust, with revenue from government per-pupil funding and minor fee-based services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Secondary Education

NAICS

Elementary and Secondary Schools (6111), Elementary and Secondary Schools (61111)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Student Welfare, Pastoral Care & Safeguarding Services (EDAIAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Instructional Coaching & Teacher Professional Learning (School-Embedded) (EDAJAFAO)

Keywords

• Secondary education
• GCSE preparation
• Academy school
• Teacher training
• Student safeguarding

Headquarters

HQ city

Ongar

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Ongar Academy is a UK state-funded secondary school delivering free education to students in Years 7-11 in Ongar, Essex, including GCSE preparation, enrichment programmes (such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, music lessons, cooking, trampolining, gardening and calligraphy), pastoral and wellbeing support, and a comprehensive safeguarding framework. The school also operates as a teacher training placement in partnership with Essex School Direct, Mid Essex ITT, University of East London and Roehampton University, and is part of the Bridge Academy Trust multi-academy trust.

Product overview

The Ongar Academy offers a secondary school education platform centered on its main website, which provides comprehensive information and services for prospective and current students, parents, and staff. The school utilizes Edulink ONE as its primary parent/student communication and engagement module, and ParentPay for cashless school payments. Additional modules include a student safeguarding reporting form and calendar/diary systems. The website, built on Greenhouse School Websites platform, integrates various communication tools including Office 365 and SharePoint for staff and student portals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Secondary School Education (Years 7-11) State-funded full-time secondary education for students aged 11-16 (Years 7-11) in Ongar, Essex, including GCSE preparation, with up to 120 Year 7 allocations per year (up to 75 reserved for Ongar, Chipping Ongar and High Ongar primary feeder schools). Delivered as part of Bridge Academy Trust.
• Enrichment Activities Programme Enrichment programme for academy students covering Duke of Edinburgh Award, cooking, trampolining, gardening, calligraphy and similar activities.
• Music Lessons Optional fee-based music lessons available to students beyond the free state-funded curriculum.
• Student Safeguarding Reporting Service Anonymous online reporting system allowing students to raise safeguarding concerns confidentially with the academy's Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• Initial Teacher Training Placements School-based initial teacher training placements delivered through partnerships with Essex School Direct, Mid Essex ITT, University of East London and Roehampton University.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% trainee teacher completion rate
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bridge Academy TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Ongar Academy is part of Bridge Academy Trust, a collegiate and collaborative Trust where each school is a place of high quality learning where young people enjoy, enrich, achieve, aspire. The Trust provides governance, HR, IT policies, and oversees safeguarding and educational standards across member schools.
• Essex School DirectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLarge and successful teacher-training provider covering Epping Forest, Chelmsford, Harlow, Havering and Herts areas. Currently training over 50 teachers in 24 Good & Outstanding schools with 97% completion rate and 74% of trainees finding employment in partnership schools.
• Mid Essex Initial Teacher Training (MEITT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeacher training provider with links to more than 20 Essex schools, offering personalised Thursday training sessions with small friendly staff. Has over 25 years teaching experience and more than 800 alumni. Virtually all successful trainees are offered ECT teaching posts.
• University of East LondonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner providing initial teacher training pathway for trainee teachers at The Ongar Academy.
• Roehampton University, LondonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner providing initial teacher training pathway for trainee teachers at The Ongar Academy.
• Essex County CouncilcoreOthersLocal education authority handling admissions coordination, appeals process, and distance measurements for oversubscription criteria for secondary schools in Essex including The Ongar Academy.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Direct peers

• Passmores Academy: A state-funded secondary school in Harlow, Essex serving a comparable 11–16 age cohort within the same county — competes directly with The Ongar Academy for Essex families choosing between local secondaries.
• Mark Hall Academy: Secondary academy in Harlow, Essex operating under a similar multi-academy trust governance structure and serving an overlapping geographic catchment — directly comparable in size, mission, and curriculum scope.
• Stewards Academy: Secondary school in the Harlow/Epping area of Essex — directly comparable 11–16 state-funded secondary competing for the same Essex families considering alternatives to The Ongar Academy.
• Burnt Mill Academy: Secondary academy in Harlow, Essex (part of BMAT) — comparable village/town secondary operating under trust governance with similar per-pupil funding model and admissions dynamics.

Broad incumbents

• United Learning: Large multi-academy trust operating numerous secondary schools across England — comparable as an institutional operator of state-funded secondary education under a similar governance and funding model.
• Greenwood Academies Trust: Multi-academy trust running primary and secondary academies across the Midlands and East of England — directly comparable as an alternative trust structure for state-funded secondary education with similar funding and governance characteristics.
• Ormiston Academies Trust: One of England's largest MATs operating a network of secondary academies — comparable as an alternative trust operating schools of similar size with shared governance and per-pupil funding dynamics.
• Outwood Grange Academies Trust: Major MAT operating a portfolio of secondary academies nationally — comparable in operating model (trust-run state secondary) and in scale of school management, though typically much larger per-site.
• E-ACT: National multi-academy trust operating a network of secondary academies — comparable as an alternative organisational structure delivering state-funded secondary education with similar regulatory and funding exposure.
• Bridge Academy Trust: The multi-academy trust that operates The Ongar Academy — broader incumbent operating multiple primary and secondary schools across the region; comparable as an organisational model rather than as a single-school peer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TheOngarAcademy
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheOngarAcademy
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-ongar-academy

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Ongar Academy