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The Forest School

Academy · ages 11–16 · no sixth form

Above average on 2 of the four headline measures, below on 1 — 19th of 40 for average grade in West Sussex.

Horsham · West Sussex · one of 40 state secondaries

How we read the data

Summary

The Forest School sits 19th of 40 state secondaries in West Sussex for average GCSE grade. 75.2% of its pupils passed both English and maths, against 67.4% across West Sussex. 55.9% reached the stronger grade 5 in both. Subject by subject it is furthest clear of West Sussex in maths and Spanish, sat by 6% of the year,, and furthest behind in history and media studies, sat by 39% of the year. Ofsted: Good in March 2017, confirmed in January 2022.

It is an academy of 1,115 pupils, taking ages 11 to 16. 12.7% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals, and 14.9% are on SEN support with a further 3% holding an education, health and care plan. 10.4% were entered for the full EBacc, fewer than the 37.4% entered across West Sussex, which is a choice about how broad a curriculum to push, and 25.2% took the separate sciences rather than combined. 91% of its leavers went on to further education.

Subject comparisons are measured at grade 4 or above against West Sussex, and count as ahead or behind only where the gap is wider than the year-to-year swing that entry group would produce.

The school·West Sussex

Inspection

Good

Last inspected January 2022

The grade itself is 9 years old.

  • January 2022 Ungraded inspection School remains Good
  • March 2017 Full inspection Good

An ungraded inspection checks whether the existing grade still holds rather than replacing it.

That grade was given under the framework Ofsted used before September 2019.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE · Key stage 4·2024/25

The Forest School converted to an academy in September 2025 and was given a new reference number. The Department for Education files results against the record a school held when its pupils sat their exams, so these are published under its previous one.

Attainment

75%

Passed English & maths grade 4+, an old grade C

above average

West Sussex 67% · England 65%

56%

Strong pass in both grade 5+, a strong pass

above average

West Sussex 46% · England 45%

47

Average grade across 8 Attainment 8, out of 90

in line with average

West Sussex 46.2 · England 46.1

10%

Entered for the EBacc the academic core of subjects

well below average

West Sussex 37% · England 41%

After Year 11

91% stayed in education, 3% started an apprenticeship (2022/23 leavers)

GCSE results by subject

2024/25 · share reaching grade 4 or above · a standard pass, the old grade C

this school West Sussex England

Every bar is on the same 0–100% scale, so subjects can be read against each other as well as against the county and England. A dash means the figure does not exist rather than being zero. The county and England lines cover state-funded schools only, the same schools you can browse here, because independent schools sit outside the Department for Education's subject release and outside this site.

Compare these subjects against another school, side by side.

English Language is the subject most of this year group sat. English Language tutors on Tutorperch.

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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.
The EBacc
A combination of subjects rather than a qualification in its own right: English, Maths, the Sciences, a Language, and History or Geography. The figure shows the share of pupils entered for all the EBacc subject areas, so it gives an indication of how widely a school enters pupils for this particular combination of subjects.
Progress 8
A measure of how much progress pupils make between the end of primary school and the end of GCSE, rather than simply what grades they achieve. It takes pupils' prior attainment into account, making it useful for comparing schools with different intakes. Progress 8 is not published for 2024/25 because the pupils concerned did not have Key Stage 2 tests that can be used as the normal starting point.
Percentage points
The gap between two percentages. A subject going from 30% to 36% has risen six percentage points, though it has risen by a fifth. We write "pp" to keep the two apart.
Why some subjects say nothing
A year group is small. Where a gap is no bigger than the swing a different intake would produce, we say the subjects are level rather than dressing chance as a finding. Two kinds of subject carry no share at all: a vocational award has no 9-to-1 grade to report, and some qualifications are not published on the 9-to-1 scale for a given year group, most often community languages sat outside the school's own timetable.
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.

School details

Comptons Lane
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 5NT

01403 261086 theforestschool.com
Headteacher
Mr Ian Straw
Trust
Horsham Learning Alliance
Pupils
1,115
Free school meals
13%
SEND
15% on SEN support, 3% with an EHC plan
Separate sciences
25% of the year
Progress 8
Not published · last -0.28 in 2023/24

Other schools in West Sussex

39 schools. Distances are straight-line from this school.

Tutorperch School report by Tutorperch
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included. The four figures at the top compare against the Department for Education's national release, which counts special schools and alternative provision as well, so it sits slightly below the average of the schools listed on this site. Subject comparisons are pooled from those schools directly.

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