Attainment and Attendance in Hastings

What the national model behind How to Pull the Right Lever says about the district’s secondary schools, within East Sussex and alongside Brighton and Hove. Draft for discussion.

Author
Affiliation

Adam Dennett

Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London

Published

November 2, 2026

WarningDraft for discussion

One of the district documents for Sussex. It sits beneath the East Sussex document, and the district summary compares all of the districts. Every figure comes from published Department for Education data and the national models of How to Pull the Right Lever. Nothing uses pupil-level records. The commentary is written to a common pattern from the figures; read it as a starting point for discussion.

Summary

Hastings’s results are among the weakest of England’s districts, on an intake more disadvantaged than England’s. Its 3 state secondary schools are in Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea.

  • Overall results: 37.8 in Attainment 8 in 2024/25, 263rd of 265 districts in England.
  • Disadvantage: 35.1% of pupils are disadvantaged, against 28.3% nationally.
  • Disadvantaged pupils average 29.5, below the national 37.8 (262nd of 265).
  • The gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest is 13.0 points, the 119th widest of 265.

The other findings:

  • For all pupils, Hastings is 11.4 points below England. The largest pieces in the national model are absence (-3.9) and Ofsted ratings (-1.9). The district’s schools take 4.5 points beyond what the model expects.
  • For disadvantaged pupils it is 10.6 points below England. The largest pieces are absence (-4.5) and Ofsted ratings (-1.8), and the schools take 3.7 points beyond what the model expects.
  • A district effect on the published model disappears once each school’s own record is counted. On the published model Hastings differs from the rest of East Sussex for all pupils (-4.4%), non-disadvantaged pupils (-3.9%) and absence (+9.9%), but that difference belongs to particular schools, not to the place.
  • None of the 3 schools is above expectation over 2021/22 to 2024/25. The strongest is Ark Alexandra Academy (-1.9); the weakest The St Leonards Academy (-5.3).
  • Absence was 7.0% in autumn and spring 2025/26 (10.0% a year earlier), against 8.0% for England and 8.9% for East Sussex. Over 2021/22 to 2024/25 its schools ran 2.8 points above what their intakes predict, and The Hastings Academy and The St Leonards Academy more than a point above.
  • Reduced timetables run at 0.4 times the national rate, and suspensions at 3.7 times (77.8 episodes per 100 pupils, against 21.2). That counts episodes, not pupils: 19.8 pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 3.9 times each, against 7.3 per 100 and 2.9 times in England.
  • Disadvantaged groups are small, 50 to 101 pupils a year per school. Every school-level figure for them moves from year to year and should be read over several years.

1 About this analysis

Hastings is a district of East Sussex, not a local authority, and that shapes what can be said:

  • The national models place schools in local authorities. The “local authority effect” in this document is East Sussex’s, shared with every school in the county.
  • What is particular to Hastings shows up in its schools’ own residuals, and in the district test of Section 6.
  • Absence and exclusions are summed over the district’s 3 schools, followed through any change of URN.
  • Ranks. With 3 schools, Hastings is placed among the 264 districts in England with five or more schools. A district this small moves a long way with one school’s results.

The methods are described in full in the East Sussex document.

2 The district’s schools

Hastings’s state-funded secondary schools, coloured by overall absence in 2024/25. Choose another measure from the menu above the map; circle size is the school’s roll. Hover for figures and who runs each school.

Every state-funded secondary school in the district, 2024/25, with the size of its disadvantaged Year 11 group. Ofsted (model) is the rating the model uses, from the last graded inspection before September 2024. Ofsted, latest is the most recent judgement in Ofsted’s data as at 30 September 2026, which is a report card’s achievement and curriculum grades, the quality of education grade for an inspection between September 2024 and November 2025 that gave no overall grade, or otherwise the last graded inspection.
School Town Type Pupils FSM % Disadvantaged in Year 11 Absence % KS2 Att 8 Att 8 disadv. Ofsted (model) Ofsted, latest
Ark Alexandra Academy Hastings Academy 1431 32.1 71 8.9 4.1 42.4 34.3 Requires Improvement (Feb 2024) Report card (Jun 2026): achievement Strong standard, curriculum and teaching Strong standard
The Hastings Academy Hastings Academy 808 33.8 50 10.2 4.4 38.0 28.4 Requires Improvement (Sep 2023) Report card (Jan 2026): achievement Needs attention, curriculum and teaching Expected standard
The St Leonards Academy St Leonards-on-Sea Academy 1322 39.3 101 11.1 2.7 33.1 25.7 Requires Improvement (Jun 2022) No overall grade (Jan 2025): quality of education Inadequate

None of the 3 schools is maintained by East Sussex County Council. The academies are run as follows:

  • Ark Alexandra Academy, in Ark Schools (sponsored);
  • The Hastings Academy, in University of Brighton Academies Trust (sponsored); it moved to Mulberry Schools Trust after 2024/25;
  • The St Leonards Academy, in University of Brighton Academies Trust (sponsored); it moved to Mulberry Schools Trust after 2024/25;
Figure 1: Who ran each school in 2024/25, and how far its results sat above or below the national model’s expectation over 2021/22 to 2024/25.

3 How Hastings compares

Hastings against East Sussex, Brighton and Hove and England, 2024/25. Means of school-level figures.
Measure Hastings East Sussex Brighton and Hove England
Attainment 8, all pupils 37.8 43.8 45.5 46.8
Attainment 8, disadvantaged 29.5 33.0 33.9 37.7
Attainment 8, non-disadvantaged 42.4 47.5 49.6 49.9
Disadvantage gap (points) 13.0 14.5 15.7 12.2
Disadvantaged (FSM6) % 35.1 25.5 28.8 28.4
Overall absence % 10.1 9.7 11.3 8.6
Persistent absence % 32.1 26.4 30.6 23.9
Mean KS2 (centred) 3.73 3.79 4.71 4.47
EAL % 8.9 6.3 13.0 18.4
Figure 2: Attainment 8 for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils in East Sussex’s districts, 2024/25, school means. The gap between the two is printed on each district’s line; Hastings is in bold.

Across the years the model covers, the gap was 12.3 points in 2021/22 and 13.0 in 2024/25. Hastings’s non-disadvantaged pupils were above England’s average in 0 of 4 years, and its disadvantaged pupils in 0.

4 What explains attainment in Hastings

Figure 3: Why average Attainment 8 differs from England’s, by factor, all school-years 2021/22 to 2024/25, for Hastings, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove. Approximate Attainment 8 points; the pieces sum to the total in each panel.
The decomposition for Hastings, in Attainment 8 points. ‘Place’ is East Sussex’s effect plus the South East’s; ‘unexplained’ is what the district’s own schools add beyond everything the model accounts for.
Factor All pupils Disadvantaged Non-disadvantaged
Unexplained (school residual) -4.47 -3.70 -3.53
Absence -3.91 -4.48 -3.25
Ofsted rating -1.95 -1.76 -1.75
Prior attainment (KS2) -1.69 -1.12 -1.60
Disadvantage (% FSM) -1.12 +0.36 -0.52
English as an additional language -0.13 -0.36 -0.19
Teacher workforce -0.00 -0.11 -0.04
Place (region and local authority) -0.00 -1.03 +0.28
Other model terms +0.19 -0.25 +0.16

For all pupils, Hastings is 11.4 points below England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:

  • absence (-3.91);
  • Ofsted ratings (-1.95);
  • prior attainment (-1.69);
  • the level of disadvantage (-1.12);
  • being in the South East (-0.46);
  • East Sussex’s county-wide effect (+0.46);
  • and the district’s schools themselves (-4.47), beyond what the model expects.

For disadvantaged pupils, Hastings is 10.6 points below England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:

  • absence (-4.48);
  • Ofsted ratings (-1.76);
  • being in the South East (-1.32);
  • prior attainment (-1.12);
  • English as an additional language (-0.36);
  • the level of disadvantage (+0.36);
  • admissions (-0.30);
  • East Sussex’s county-wide effect (+0.29);
  • and the district’s schools themselves (-3.70), beyond what the model expects.

5 The disadvantaged gap, school by school

Figure 4: Each school’s value added for its disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils, mean over the years available (2021/22 to provisional 2025/26). Above zero means better than the national model expects for similar pupils.

No Hastings school is above expectation for its non-disadvantaged pupils while more than a point below it for its disadvantaged ones.

The table below gives each school’s own persistent effect, from the model with a school term, which is the steadier measure.

Table 1: Each school’s own persistent effect on the national model with a school term (%), for each group of pupils and for absence beyond what its intake predicts. Positive absence is worse.
School All pupils Disadvantaged Non-disadvantaged Absence (stage 1)
The St Leonards Academy -12.3 -11.8 -8.8 +31.2
The Hastings Academy -7.5 -3.7 -4.8 +35.2
Ark Alexandra Academy -2.7 -3.0 -0.1 +5.2
Table 2: Attainment 8 of each school’s disadvantaged pupils, year by year (2025/26 provisional), with the size of the group in 2024/25. Small groups make single years unreliable.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Disadvantaged pupils, 2024/25
Ark Alexandra Academy 32.7 29.1 26.8 34.3 36.3 71
Mulberry Academy Hastings (formerly The Hastings Academy) 30.6 24.4 25.3 28.4 33.8 50
The St Leonards Academy 23.9 20.8 24.0 25.7 30.8 101

6 Is there a Hastings effect?

The district test of the East Sussex document adds a district level to the national model, with and without each school’s own record.

Table 3: The Hastings district effect, over and above East Sussex’s, with 95% intervals.
Specification Outcome Effect (%) 95% interval Significant
Published specification All pupils -4.4 -8.0 to -0.6 Yes
Published specification Disadvantaged -3.9 -8.1 to +0.5 No
Published specification Non-disadvantaged -3.9 -7.1 to -0.6 Yes
Published specification Absence (stage 1) +9.9 +1.4 to +19.0 Yes
With a school term All pupils -1.6 -5.0 to +1.9 No
With a school term Disadvantaged -1.2 -4.3 to +2.1 No
With a school term Non-disadvantaged -2.2 -5.8 to +1.4 No
With a school term Absence (stage 1) +2.0 -3.9 to +8.3 No

On the published model, Hastings differs from the rest of East Sussex for all pupils (-4.4%), non-disadvantaged pupils (-3.9%) and absence (+9.9%). With each school’s own record in the model, none of that remains: the difference belongs to particular schools, not to the district as a place.

Figure 5: Each school’s own persistent effect, from the model with a school term: Attainment 8 for all pupils, and absence beyond what its intake predicts.

7 Absence

Figure 6: Overall absence, autumn and spring terms, 2016/17 to 2025/26. Sessions-weighted; 2019/20 not collected.
  • 7.0% absence in autumn and spring 2025/26, against 8.0% for England and 8.9% for East Sussex. A year earlier it was 10.0%.
  • Persistent absence is 22.2%, against 21.6% for England.
  • Against its intake, the district’s schools run 2.77 points above what their pupils’ profiles predict, on average over 2021/22 to 2024/25.
Table 4: Each school’s absence against what its intake predicts, mean 2021/22 to 2024/25, and its reasons in the latest year (percentage of sessions).
School Absence % Predicted by intake % Above prediction Illness Unauthorised Reduced timetable Suspended
The Hastings Academy 15.0 10.8 +4.2 3.8 1.7 0.03 0.39
The St Leonards Academy 14.2 10.6 +3.5 3.1 2.7 0.20 0.09
Ark Alexandra Academy 10.5 9.9 +0.6 3.7 1.6 0.11 0.62
  • The Hastings Academy and The St Leonards Academy each run more than a point above their predicted absence.

Reduced timetables account for 0.11% of sessions, against 0.29% in England, 0.4 times the national rate. The St Leonards Academy’s rate is the highest in the district.

Table 5: Predicted Attainment 8 gain if each school’s absence fell to the national school average (2024/25). Indicative only.
School District Absence % FSM % Gain, all pupils Gain, disadvantaged Gain from FSM to area average
The St Leonards Academy Hastings 11.1 39.3 +1.8 +2.1 +0.2
The Hastings Academy Hastings 10.2 33.8 +1.4 +1.5 +0.0
Ark Alexandra Academy Hastings 8.9 32.1 +0.4 +0.4 +0.0

All 3 schools are above the national average absence in 2024/25. Bringing them to it would add up to 1.8 points for all pupils, as an indication of scale.

Suspensions were 77.8 episodes per 100 pupils in 2024/25, against 21.2 for England and 28.0 for East Sussex. A rate per 100 pupils counts suspension episodes rather than pupils, and one pupil can be suspended several times in a year, so it is not a percentage of children: 19.8 pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 3.9 times each, against 7.3 per 100 and 2.9 times in England.

Table 6: Suspension episodes per 100 pupils, pupils suspended at least once per 100, and permanent exclusions, by school, latest year. One pupil can be suspended more than once, so the first rate runs well above the second.
School Pupils Episodes per 100 Pupils suspended per 100 Permanent exclusions
The Hastings Academy 808 89.9 20.4 8
Ark Alexandra Academy 1431 74.7 19.8 2
The St Leonards Academy 1322 73.7 19.4 0

8 Contextual league tables

Value added, all pupils: observed Attainment 8 minus the national model’s expectation. 2025/26 is provisional.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Mean Years
Ark Alexandra Academy -2.4 -3.8 -1.2 -0.5 -0.1 -1.6 5
Mulberry Academy Hastings (formerly The Hastings Academy) -1.9 -4.9 -4.2 -2.9 -6.2 -4.0 5
The St Leonards Academy -6.1 -3.8 -6.0 -5.3 -5.2 -5.3 5
Value added, disadvantaged pupils. Small groups; read across years.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Mean Years
Ark Alexandra Academy -1.6 -3.2 -3.6 +1.1 -0.0 -1.5 5
Mulberry Academy Hastings (formerly The Hastings Academy) +0.2 -2.0 -2.6 -2.7 -3.0 -2.0 5
The St Leonards Academy -5.8 -6.0 -3.7 -3.9 -4.6 -4.8 5
Value added, non-disadvantaged pupils.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Mean Years
Ark Alexandra Academy -1.6 -3.9 +1.8 -0.7 +0.7 -0.7 5
Mulberry Academy Hastings (formerly The Hastings Academy) -1.8 -4.5 -3.5 -2.2 -5.5 -3.5 5
The St Leonards Academy -5.4 -2.6 -6.2 -4.9 -4.5 -4.7 5

9 Questions for discussion

  1. Disadvantaged pupils. They average 29.5 in Hastings against 37.8 in England, and the district’s schools take 3.7 points for them beyond what the model expects. No school here is above expectation for them over the period; the question is what schools elsewhere with similar intakes do differently.
  2. Attendance is a lever here. Absence costs the district 3.9 points against England for all pupils, and The Hastings Academy and The St Leonards Academy run more than a point above what their intakes predict.
  3. Schools, not the place. The district’s apparent effect belongs to particular schools; the question is what is happening in them.
  4. Practice. In Hastings, suspensions run at 3.7 times the national rate. These are choices made within schools, and neighbouring districts make them differently.
  5. The county. East Sussex’s own effect for disadvantaged pupils is +0.9% (60th of 151), not distinguishable from zero. The county questions in the East Sussex document apply here as well.

Notes on method

Methods and sources are those of the East Sussex document. District membership comes from each school’s postcode (ONS postcode directory, via postcodes.io). Absence and exclusions for the district are summed over its schools, including any predecessor or successor URNs. This document is generated from templates/district_report.qmd by R/20_district_reports.R, from data built by R/17_area_analysis.R, R/18_district_effects.R and R/19_trust_effects.R. Its format is described in AREA_REPORTS.md.