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State secondary schools in West Sussex

40 schools · South East · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

West Sussex has 40 state secondaries, 22 of them with sixth forms. 87.5% of families got their first choice last year, better than most of England. Results run from 21.6% to 66.2% passing English and maths, a spread of 45 points, with a middle school at 45.5%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 7 rated Outstanding, 25 Good, 1 Requires improvement. 7 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

40 schools in West Sussex. Tap one, or see the full list.
22% 66% passed English & maths

West Sussex against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

46%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

in line with England

England 45%

46.2

Attainment 8 average score

in line with England

England 46.1

21%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

in line with England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across West Sussex

87.5%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

97.6%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

<0.1%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

18%

Appeals upheld64 of 362 heard

These are figures for West Sussex as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across West Sussex's 40 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 22% to 66%. That is a spread of 45 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

West Sussex schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistoryenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencegeographyphysicschemistrybiologyartspanishcomputer sciencefrenchdesign technologybusiness studiesphysical educationreligious studiesmedia studies
  1. 1 St Paul's Catholic College Burgess Hill · 180 entries 90%
  2. 2 Downlands Community School Hassocks · 230 entries 88%
  3. 3 Bohunt Horsham Horsham · 124 entries 88%
  4. 4 Shoreham Academy Shoreham-by-Sea · 285 entries 86%
  5. 5 Tanbridge House School Horsham · 295 entries 85%
  6. 6 Warden Park Secondary Academy Haywards Heath · 287 entries 85%
  7. 7 St Oscar Romero Catholic School Worthing · 193 entries 85%
  8. 8 Bishop Luffa School, Chichester Chichester · 232 entries 85%
  9. 9 Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing Worthing · 254 entries 84%
  10. 10 Millais School Horsham · 282 entries 84%
  11. 11 The Forest School Horsham · 201 entries 83%
  12. 12 Worthing High School Worthing · 206 entries 82%
  13. 13 Midhurst Rother College Midhurst · 207 entries 81%
  14. 14 St Philip Howard Catholic School Bognor Regis · 207 entries 81%
  15. 15 Durrington High School Worthing · 316 entries 80%
  16. 16 Oathall Community College Haywards Heath · 229 entries 79%
  17. 17 Steyning Grammar School Steyning · 357 entries 78%
  18. 18 Chichester Free School Chichester · 117 entries 76%
  19. 19 Hazelwick School Crawley · 300 entries 75%
  20. 20 The Burgess Hill Academy Burgess Hill · 207 entries 74%
  21. 21 Bohunt School Worthing Worthing · 177 entries 73%
  22. 22 St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley Crawley · 187 entries 73%
  23. 23 Sackville School East Grinstead · 271 entries 73%
  24. 24 Weald School, The Billingshurst · 294 entries 72%
  25. 25 Ormiston Six Villages Academy Chichester · 111 entries 72%
  26. 26 Oriel High School Crawley · 239 entries 71%
  27. 27 Imberhorne School East Grinstead · 237 entries 70%
  28. 28 Felpham Community College Bognor Regis · 257 entries 70%
  29. 29 Bourne Community College Emsworth · 141 entries 70%
  30. 30 The Regis School West Sussex · 280 entries 70%
  31. 31 The Angmering School Littlehampton · 253 entries 69%
  32. 32 The Sir Robert Woodard Academy Sompting · 234 entries 68%
  33. 33 St Andrew's CofE High School Worthing · 101 entries 66%
  34. 34 Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley Crawley · 203 entries 61%
  35. 35 The Littlehampton Academy Littlehampton · 235 entries 60%
  36. 36 The Gatwick School Crawley · 112 entries 60%
  37. 37 Chichester High School Chichester · 228 entries 59%
  38. 38 Ifield Community College Crawley · 206 entries 59%
  39. 39 Thomas Bennett Community College Crawley · 175 entries 57%
  40. 40 The Academy, Selsey Chichester · 87 entries 56%
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Every school in West Sussex

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

11 of 38 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in West Sussex

21 of West Sussex's 22 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering West Sussex

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Brighton and Hove 10 schools · 48% passed English & mathsEast Sussex 26 schools · 42% passed English & mathsHampshire 69 schools · 45% passed English & mathsSurrey 57 schools · 55% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.