Attainment and Attendance in Worthing

What the national model behind How to Pull the Right Lever says about the district’s secondary schools, within West 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 West 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

Worthing’s results are among the strongest of England’s districts, on an intake less disadvantaged than England’s. Its 6 state secondary schools are in Worthing.

  • Overall results: 49.0 in Attainment 8 in 2024/25, 66th of 264 districts in England.
  • Disadvantage: 17.6% of pupils are disadvantaged, against 28.3% nationally.
  • Disadvantaged pupils average 35.8, below the national 37.8 (146th of 264).
  • The gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest is 15.9 points, the 33rd widest of 264.

The other findings:

  • For all pupils, Worthing is 2.9 points above England. The largest pieces in the national model are the level of disadvantage (+0.8) and West Sussex’s county-wide effect (-0.7). The district’s schools add 2.4 points beyond what the model expects.
  • For disadvantaged pupils it is 0.0 points below England. The largest pieces are West Sussex’s county-wide effect (-1.5) and being in the South East (-1.3), and the schools add 2.5 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 Worthing differs from the rest of West Sussex for non-disadvantaged pupils (+3.2%), but that difference belongs to particular schools, not to the place.
  • 5 of the 6 schools are above expectation over 2021/22 to 2024/25. The strongest is St Oscar Romero Catholic School (+6.4); the weakest Bohunt School Worthing (-1.5).
  • Absence was 8.1% in autumn and spring 2025/26 (8.1% a year earlier), against 8.0% for England and 8.1% for West Sussex. Over 2021/22 to 2024/25 its schools ran 0.6 points below what their intakes predict.
  • Reduced timetables run at 2.5 times the national rate, and suspensions at 0.9 times (18.4 episodes per 100 pupils, against 21.2). That counts episodes, not pupils: 6.1 pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 3.0 times each, against 7.3 per 100 and 2.9 times in England.
  • Disadvantaged groups are small, 23 to 62 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

Worthing is a district of West 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 West Sussex’s, shared with every school in the county.
  • What is particular to Worthing shows up in its schools’ own residuals, and in the district test of Section 6.
  • Absence and exclusions are summed over the district’s 6 schools, followed through any change of URN.

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

2 The district’s schools

Worthing’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
Bohunt School Worthing Worthing Academy 897 13.5 24 8.3 4.9 46.7 30.3 Good (Sep 2018) Remains Good (Oct 2023, ungraded visit)
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing Worthing Maintained 1328 15.5 40 8.3 5.2 52.1 35.9 Outstanding (Jun 2024) Outstanding (Jun 2024)
Durrington High School Worthing Academy 1606 19.6 62 8.8 3.5 49.7 36.3 Good (Mar 2022) Good (Mar 2022)
St Andrew's CofE High School Worthing Maintained 739 21.5 23 11.1 3.2 41.7 36.2 Good (Apr 2023) Good (Apr 2023)
St Oscar Romero Catholic School Worthing Maintained 1075 18.5 36 5.2 3.9 55.1 38.2 Good (Jan 2015) No overall grade (Apr 2025): quality of education Outstanding
Worthing High School Worthing Academy 1055 16.7 35 8.9 4.4 48.5 37.9 Good (Apr 2016) Standards maintained (Mar 2025, ungraded visit)

3 of the 6 schools are maintained by West Sussex County Council. The academies are run as follows:

  • Bohunt School Worthing, in Bohunt Education Trust (sponsored);
  • Durrington High School, in Durrington Multi Academy Trust;
  • Worthing High School, in South Downs Education Trust;
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 Worthing compares

Worthing against West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and England, 2024/25. Means of school-level figures.
Measure Worthing West Sussex Brighton and Hove England
Attainment 8, all pupils 49.0 46.4 45.5 46.8
Attainment 8, disadvantaged 35.8 33.5 33.9 37.7
Attainment 8, non-disadvantaged 51.7 48.9 49.6 49.9
Disadvantage gap (points) 15.9 15.4 15.7 12.2
Disadvantaged (FSM6) % 17.6 17.1 28.8 28.4
Overall absence % 8.4 8.7 11.3 8.6
Persistent absence % 23.0 23.9 30.6 23.9
Mean KS2 (centred) 4.18 4.26 4.71 4.47
EAL % 9.0 11.0 13.0 18.4
Figure 2: Attainment 8 for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils in West Sussex’s districts, 2024/25, school means. The gap between the two is printed on each district’s line; Worthing is in bold.

Across the years the model covers, the gap was 12.6 points in 2021/22 and 15.9 in 2024/25. Worthing’s non-disadvantaged pupils were above England’s average in 4 of 4 years, and its disadvantaged pupils in 2.

4 What explains attainment in Worthing

Figure 3: Why average Attainment 8 differs from England’s, by factor, all school-years 2021/22 to 2024/25, for Worthing, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove. Approximate Attainment 8 points; the pieces sum to the total in each panel.
The decomposition for Worthing, in Attainment 8 points. ‘Place’ is West 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
Place (region and local authority) -1.20 -2.79 -1.48
Prior attainment (KS2) -0.37 -0.18 -0.25
English as an additional language -0.08 -0.22 -0.11
Teacher workforce +0.09 +0.16 +0.15
Other model terms +0.18 -0.26 +0.16
Ofsted rating +0.28 +0.26 +0.25
Absence +0.68 +0.83 +0.60
Disadvantage (% FSM) +0.75 -0.27 +0.40
Unexplained (school residual) +2.44 +2.47 +2.47

For all pupils, Worthing is 2.9 points above England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:

  • the level of disadvantage (+0.75);
  • West Sussex’s county-wide effect (-0.74);
  • absence (+0.68);
  • being in the South East (-0.46);
  • prior attainment (-0.37);
  • Ofsted ratings (+0.28);
  • and the district’s schools themselves (+2.44), beyond what the model expects.

For disadvantaged pupils, Worthing is 0.0 points below England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:

  • West Sussex’s county-wide effect (-1.47);
  • being in the South East (-1.32);
  • absence (+0.83);
  • admissions (-0.30);
  • the level of disadvantage (-0.27);
  • Ofsted ratings (+0.26);
  • and the district’s schools themselves (+2.47), beyond what the model expects.

The level of disadvantage counting against disadvantaged pupils is the Lever report’s most contested finding showing up locally. Across England, disadvantaged pupils do slightly better in schools with more disadvantaged pupils, once everything else is accounted for. The likely reason is that such schools organise around them, and spend pupil premium on provision that a handful of pupils cannot sustain. In Worthing, with 23 to 62 disadvantaged pupils in a year group, that is harder to do.

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 Worthing school is above expectation for its non-disadvantaged pupils while more than a point below it for its disadvantaged ones. Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing, St Andrew’s CofE High School, St Oscar Romero Catholic School, Worthing High School and Durrington High School are above expectation for both groups. 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)
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing +2.8 +0.9 +2.0 +0.9
St Andrew's CofE High School +1.8 +7.1 -1.0 +10.6
St Oscar Romero Catholic School +12.0 +9.7 +10.8 -34.6
Worthing High School +4.3 +6.3 +2.5 +7.5
Bohunt School Worthing -2.6 -3.9 -3.4 -4.3
Durrington High School +3.9 +2.5 +3.3 -8.9
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
Bohunt School Worthing 39.5 36.6 34.6 30.3 25.9 24
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing 43.9 36.4 37.6 35.9 38.7 40
Durrington High School 39.5 35.6 34.1 36.3 39.9 62
St Andrew's CofE High School 38.8 28.4 38.1 36.2 30.0 23
St Oscar Romero Catholic School 48.6 42.0 46.2 38.2 43.8 36
Worthing High School 39.8 36.4 35.2 37.9 35.5 35

6 Is there a Worthing 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 Worthing district effect, over and above West Sussex’s, with 95% intervals.
Specification Outcome Effect (%) 95% interval Significant
Published specification All pupils +3.2 -0.1 to +6.6 No
Published specification Disadvantaged +3.4 -0.5 to +7.5 No
Published specification Non-disadvantaged +3.2 +0.4 to +6.2 Yes
Published specification Absence (stage 1) -5.0 -11.4 to +1.7 No
With a school term All pupils +1.5 -1.8 to +4.8 No
With a school term Disadvantaged +1.4 -1.7 to +4.5 No
With a school term Non-disadvantaged +2.2 -1.2 to +5.7 No
With a school term Absence (stage 1) -1.2 -6.8 to +4.7 No

On the published model, Worthing differs from the rest of West Sussex for non-disadvantaged pupils (+3.2%). 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.
  • 8.1% absence in autumn and spring 2025/26, against 8.0% for England and 8.1% for West Sussex. A year earlier it was 8.1%.
  • Persistent absence is 20.9%, against 21.6% for England.
  • Against its intake, the district’s schools run 0.58 points below 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
St Andrew's CofE High School 10.1 9.4 +0.7 3.9 4.2 0.75 0.42
Worthing High School 9.2 8.6 +0.6 4.9 1.1 1.09 0.09
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing 8.2 8.1 +0.1 4.2 1.3 0.75 0.12
Bohunt School Worthing 7.8 8.2 -0.4 3.5 2.0 1.41 0.32
Durrington High School 8.0 9.1 -1.1 4.3 2.3 0.47 0.19
St Oscar Romero Catholic School 5.6 9.2 -3.5 3.3 0.9 0.06 0.05
  • No school runs more than a point above its predicted absence.
  • St Oscar Romero Catholic School and Durrington High School run more than a point below their predictions.

Reduced timetables account for 0.72% of sessions, against 0.29% in England, 2.5 times the national rate. Bohunt School Worthing’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
St Andrew's CofE High School Worthing 11.1 21.5 +2.3 +2.9 +0.4
Worthing High School Worthing 8.9 16.7 +0.3 +0.4 +0.0
Durrington High School Worthing 8.8 19.6 +0.3 +0.3 +0.3
St Oscar Romero Catholic School Worthing 5.2 18.5 +0.0 +0.0 +0.1

3 of the 6 schools are above the national average absence in 2024/25. Bringing them to it would add up to 2.3 points for all pupils, as an indication of scale.

Suspensions were 18.4 episodes per 100 pupils in 2024/25, against 21.2 for England and 16.2 for West 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: 6.1 pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 3.0 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
St Andrew's CofE High School 739 49.8 12.4 0
Bohunt School Worthing 897 38.4 13.7 2
Durrington High School 1606 24.0 6.4 7
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing 1328 5.6 4.1 0
Worthing High School 1055 4.6 2.7 2
St Oscar Romero Catholic School 1075 1.1 0.7 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
St Oscar Romero Catholic School +7.7 +7.3 +4.9 +5.6 +5.8 +6.3 5
Durrington High School +2.4 +1.0 +2.0 +5.2 +3.8 +2.9 5
Worthing High School +3.8 +2.6 +2.4 +3.0 -1.6 +2.0 5
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing +3.0 +1.1 +1.5 +2.3 +0.1 +1.6 5
St Andrew's CofE High School +1.3 +0.4 +3.9 +0.6 +1.7 +1.6 5
Bohunt School Worthing -2.0 -1.3 -2.3 -0.9 -2.4 -1.8 5
Value added, disadvantaged pupils. Small groups; read across years.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Mean Years
St Oscar Romero Catholic School +8.1 +4.8 +8.5 -0.2 +4.3 +5.1 5
Worthing High School +4.8 +2.7 +2.0 +4.7 +1.3 +3.1 5
St Andrew's CofE High School +5.8 -2.3 +6.3 +5.6 -1.3 +2.8 5
Durrington High School +0.6 +0.5 +0.8 +3.9 +6.4 +2.4 5
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing +5.2 -1.8 +0.8 -0.6 +0.9 +0.9 5
Bohunt School Worthing +0.1 -0.9 -1.9 -4.7 -9.9 -3.5 5
Value added, non-disadvantaged pupils.
School 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 2025/26 Mean Years
St Oscar Romero Catholic School +8.4 +8.5 +4.7 +7.5 +6.6 +7.1 5
Durrington High School +3.4 +1.8 +2.3 +5.7 +3.1 +3.2 5
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing +2.8 +1.5 +1.9 +2.9 +0.4 +1.9 5
Worthing High School +3.5 +2.6 +2.2 +2.5 -2.3 +1.7 5
St Andrew's CofE High School -0.2 +1.2 +3.0 -1.2 +2.2 +1.0 5
Bohunt School Worthing -2.4 -1.0 -2.5 -0.8 -1.4 -1.6 5

9 Questions for discussion

  1. Disadvantaged pupils. They average 35.8 in Worthing against 37.8 in England, and the district’s schools add 2.5 points for them beyond what the model expects. What do St Oscar Romero Catholic School and Worthing High School, above expectation for these pupils, do that the district’s other schools could share?
  2. Attendance is not the district’s main lever. Absence adds 0.7 points against England.
  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 Worthing, reduced timetables run at 2.5 times the national rate. These are choices made within schools, and neighbouring districts make them differently.
  5. The county. West Sussex’s own effect for disadvantaged pupils is -3.8% (131st of 151), distinguishable from zero, and it applies to every school here. The county questions in the West 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.