Summary

West Sussex’s results look ordinary, but its pupils should be doing better. In 2024-25 the county’s 40 state-funded secondary schools averaged 46.4 in Attainment 8, close to England’s 46.9 (71st of 152 authorities). But its schools are among the least disadvantaged in England (17.1% against 28.3%, 10th lowest). Its disadvantaged pupils average 33.5, against 37.8 nationally (127th).

The county’s schools get less from their pupils than the model expects, and this is the main finding. Once intake and circumstances are accounted for, West Sussex ranks 115th of 152 for all pupils. For disadvantaged pupils it ranks 131st of 151, significantly below average. The local authority effect costs disadvantaged pupils about 1.5 Attainment 8 points.
Absence is not the explanation here, unlike in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove. The county’s absence (8.1% in autumn and spring 2025/26) is close to England’s (8.0%) and almost exactly what its intake predicts. Controlling for it makes no difference to the county’s standing: 132nd with it, 133rd without.
What absence there is has a distinctive shape. Illness runs above the national rate and unauthorised absence below it. Reduced timetables run at 1.9 times the national rate, the clearest outlier in the county’s absence profile.
Crawley is a real district effect. All 7 of its schools sit below expectation. For non-disadvantaged pupils its effect survives even when each school’s own record is taken into account, the only district in Sussex where it does.
Who runs a school matters less than which school it is. 18 of the county’s schools are maintained and 21 are in multi-academy trusts. United Learning’s three West Sussex schools are among the county’s strongest. The Kemnal Academies Trust’s schools run significantly more absence than their intakes predict.

1 About this analysis

This document applies the national models of the Lever report to West Sussex in the same way the East Sussex document does for that county. Its sections follow the same order, and its methods are described in full there. In brief:

The models are the published ones: multilevel models of school-level Attainment 8 for every state-funded mainstream secondary school in England, 2021/22 to 2024/25, for all, disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils. They explain around 80% of the variation between schools.
Three sections refit copies of them to ask questions the published versions cannot: Section 5.1 adds a district level, Section 5.2 a multi-academy trust level, and Section 7.1 separates absence from intake.
Absence runs to autumn and spring 2025/26, and the value-added tables include provisional 2025/26 results.
The models describe schools, not pupils. They show how strongly a school’s characteristics and its results move together across England. They cannot show that one causes the other for any child, and the scenarios are indications of scale, not forecasts.

2 The county’s schools

West Sussex’s state-funded secondary schools, coloured by overall absence in 2024/25, within the county’s seven districts and boroughs. Choose another measure from the menu above the map; circle size is the school’s roll. Hover over a school for its figures and who runs it.

West Sussex has 40 state-funded mainstream secondary schools teaching 51,334 pupils, across seven districts and boroughs:

Crawley, a new town by Gatwick.
The market towns of Horsham and Mid Sussex.
The coast, from Selsey and Bognor Regis through Littlehampton and Worthing to Shoreham.
Chichester and its rural hinterland.

All the schools are non-selective. 4 are Catholic and 5 Church of England. Like East Sussex, the county also has a large independent sector, which is outside these models.

Schools by district and borough, 2024/25. Unweighted school means.
District	Schools	Pupils	FSM %	Absence %	Persistent absence %	KS2 (centred)	Attainment 8	Attainment 8, disadvantaged
Crawley	7	9,213	23.4	9.3	26.3	3.8	42.1	30.7
Adur	2	3,189	20.0	8.3	22.8	4.6	48.4	40.0
Arun	6	7,935	18.6	9.1	26.3	3.3	43.1	31.2
Chichester	6	6,303	17.8	8.9	24.9	3.8	43.6	31.0
Worthing	6	6,700	17.6	8.4	23.0	4.2	49.0	35.8
Mid Sussex	7	9,471	12.2	8.3	21.3	5.0	50.3	35.5
Horsham	6	8,523	11.9	8.0	21.7	5.4	49.6	34.6

The county divides sharply. Horsham and Mid Sussex are the least disadvantaged districts in Sussex (11.9 to 12.2% eligible for free school meals), arrive with the highest prior attainment and average over 49 in Attainment 8. Crawley is the most disadvantaged (23%). It has the lowest results (42.1), and its disadvantaged pupils average 30.7. The coastal districts of Arun and Chichester sit between, with results almost as low as Crawley’s on a less disadvantaged intake.

Every state-funded secondary school, 2024/25. KS2 is the cohort’s mean Key Stage 2 score, centred as in the national model (England’s school average is about 4.5). 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	District	Type	Pupils	FSM %	Absence %	Persistent %	KS2	EHCP %	Att 8	Att 8 disadv.	Ofsted (model)	Ofsted, latest
Shoreham Academy	Adur	Academy	1777	15.0	7.4	18.0	4.7	3.7	54.8	47.7	Outstanding (Feb 2024)	Outstanding (Feb 2024)
The Sir Robert Woodard Academy	Adur	Academy	1412	24.9	9.3	27.7	4.4	3.6	42.0	32.2	Good (Oct 2021)	Report card (Jan 2026): achievement Expected standard, curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Felpham Community College	Arun	Maintained	1557	16.3	8.8	26.3	3.7	1.1	41.9	29.7	Good (Jan 2016)	Standards maintained (Oct 2024, ungraded visit)
Ormiston Six Villages Academy	Arun	Academy	698	15.3	7.8	26.9	2.6	2.2	42.8	30.7	Good (Nov 2022)	Good (Nov 2022)
St Philip Howard Catholic School	Arun	Academy	1301	14.2	6.9	16.6	4.6	3.1	52.5	37.5	Outstanding (Apr 2016)	Report card (Apr 2026): achievement Strong standard, curriculum and teaching Strong standard
The Angmering School	Arun	Maintained	1345	16.9	10.3	29.9	3.0	5.3	41.0	27.2	Good (Oct 2022)	Good (Oct 2022)
The Littlehampton Academy	Arun	Academy	1369	23.7	12.7	35.0	3.7	3.4	37.2	26.7	Good (Feb 2022)	Report card (Feb 2026): achievement Needs attention, curriculum and teaching Expected standard
The Regis School	Arun	Academy	1665	25.3	8.1	23.3	2.2	1.9	43.5	35.4	Good (Oct 2017)	Remains Good (Mar 2023, ungraded visit)
Bishop Luffa School, Chichester	Chichester	Academy	1579	8.9	6.9	16.6	5.8	2.1	52.5	28.5	Outstanding (Nov 2022)	Outstanding (Nov 2022)
Bourne Community College	Chichester	Maintained	729	22.4	8.6	26.4	3.4	5.6	39.0	25.5	Good (Nov 2021)	Report card (Jan 2026): achievement Needs attention, curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Chichester Free School	Chichester	Academy	1078	14.5	8.1	22.7	3.6	1.2	44.6	35.5	Good (May 2024)	Good (May 2024)
Chichester High School	Chichester	Academy	1258	23.5	10.7	34.0	3.5	2.0	38.9	30.3	Good (May 2019)	No overall grade (Nov 2024): quality of education Good
Midhurst Rother College	Chichester	Academy	1158	14.8	8.1	19.4	3.9	2.2	48.6	34.7	Outstanding (May 2024)	Outstanding (May 2024)
The Academy, Selsey	Chichester	Academy	501	22.7	11.1	30.4	2.5	4.3	37.9	31.7	Good (Apr 2019)	No overall grade (Jan 2025): quality of education Good
Hazelwick School	Crawley	Academy	1890	20.5	6.6	15.5	4.5	1.9	50.1	38.2	Outstanding (Oct 2023)	Outstanding (Oct 2023)
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley	Crawley	Maintained	1359	27.2	11.9	35.2	4.1	1.3	41.6	32.9	Good (Nov 2023)	Good (Nov 2023)
Ifield Community College	Crawley	Maintained	1204	28.8	10.9	31.4	2.5	1.1	40.0	31.9	Good (Feb 2018)	Remains Good (Apr 2023, ungraded visit)
Oriel High School	Crawley	Maintained	1478	12.5	8.8	26.4	5.1	2.1	45.2	27.2	Good (Feb 2012)	No overall grade (Mar 2025): quality of education Good
St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley	Crawley	Maintained	1174	13.7	6.5	16.4	6.1	3.5	45.0	30.7	Good (Oct 2012)	Remains Good (Mar 2023, ungraded visit)
The Gatwick School	Crawley	Academy	846	23.2	9.2	27.0	1.8	1.6	39.5	28.2	Good (May 2024)	Good (May 2024)
Thomas Bennett Community College	Crawley	Academy	1262	38.1	11.6	32.1	2.6	2.8	33.0	25.6	Good (Oct 2022)	Good (Oct 2022)
Bohunt Horsham	Horsham	Academy	1121	12.0	7.3	17.6	6.7	2.2	49.4	36.1	Good (Oct 2023)	Good (Oct 2023)
Millais School	Horsham	Maintained	1055	12.8	8.7	22.6	6.4	1.3	51.5	33.7	Good (Sep 2022)	Good (Sep 2022)
Steyning Grammar School	Horsham	Academy	1944	13.6	9.3	27.8	3.8	2.3	48.6	35.1	Requires Improvement (Apr 2023)	Report card (Mar 2026): achievement Expected standard, curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Tanbridge House School	Horsham	Maintained	1524	9.7	7.0	17.6	5.5	1.8	54.2	34.1	Outstanding (Jun 2024)	Outstanding (Jun 2024)
The Forest School	Horsham	Maintained	1095	7.4	7.8	22.5	5.0	2.6	46.9	34.2	Good (Mar 2017)	Remains Good (Jan 2022, ungraded visit)
Weald School, The	Horsham	Maintained	1784	16.2	8.0	22.2	4.8	1.9	47.1	34.3	Outstanding (Oct 2013)	No overall grade (Oct 2024): quality of education Good
Downlands Community School	Mid Sussex	Maintained	1250	7.4	7.6	19.1	5.7	1.4	57.2	45.7	Good (Oct 2022)	Report card (Jul 2026): achievement Strong standard, curriculum and teaching Strong standard
Imberhorne School	Mid Sussex	Maintained	1573	13.2	9.5	26.2	3.6	2.5	45.0	26.2	Good (Mar 2019)	Standards maintained (Oct 2024, ungraded visit)
Oathall Community College	Mid Sussex	Maintained	1303	16.9	7.9	20.4	5.2	2.2	51.5	35.8	Good (Oct 2013)	Remains Good (Sep 2023, ungraded visit)
Sackville School	Mid Sussex	Maintained	1599	12.9	9.9	28.0	3.5	2.6	46.0	34.9	Good (Mar 2015)	Remains Good (May 2024, ungraded visit)
St Paul's Catholic College	Mid Sussex	Academy	1190	7.7	5.8	12.8	6.8	2.1	55.4	42.5	Outstanding (Feb 2023)	Outstanding (Feb 2023)
The Burgess Hill Academy	Mid Sussex	Academy	1018	19.1	10.0	22.2	3.5	1.4	44.6	33.2	Good (May 2019)	Some aspects not as strong (Dec 2024, ungraded visit)
Warden Park Secondary Academy	Mid Sussex	Academy	1538	8.2	7.7	20.4	6.5	3.3	52.3	30.1	Good (Jan 2017)	Report card (Jun 2026): achievement Expected standard, curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Bohunt School Worthing	Worthing	Academy	897	13.5	8.3	23.4	4.9	4.8	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	8.3	21.9	5.2	3.3	52.1	35.9	Outstanding (Jun 2024)	Outstanding (Jun 2024)
Durrington High School	Worthing	Academy	1606	19.6	8.8	24.4	3.5	1.7	49.7	36.3	Good (Mar 2022)	Good (Mar 2022)
St Andrew's CofE High School	Worthing	Maintained	739	21.5	11.1	32.7	3.2	2.5	41.7	36.2	Good (Apr 2023)	Good (Apr 2023)
St Oscar Romero Catholic School	Worthing	Maintained	1075	18.5	5.2	14.2	3.9	4.0	55.1	38.2	Good (Jan 2015)	No overall grade (Apr 2025): quality of education Outstanding
Worthing High School	Worthing	Academy	1055	16.7	8.9	21.5	4.4	5.5	48.5	37.9	Good (Apr 2016)	Standards maintained (Mar 2025, ungraded visit)

2.1 Who runs the county’s schools

Nearly half of West Sussex’s secondary schools are still maintained. In 2024/25:

18 were maintained by the county council.
21 were in 12 multi-academy trusts. These range from national trusts (United Learning, Ormiston, Kemnal, Woodard) to local ones of two or three schools.
1 was a single-academy trust.

9 academies are sponsored: placed with a trust, usually because they were struggling. They are mostly on the coast.

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 (Attainment 8 points). Each panel is a governing body; each dot a school, coloured by district and shaped by how it came to be run that way.

Table 1: Schools whose governing body has changed since 2024/25, from Get Information about Schools (October 2026).

School	District	Run by, 2024/25	Run by now
The Burgess Hill Academy	Mid Sussex	University of Brighton Academies Trust	Sussex Learning Trust
The Forest School	Horsham	Maintained by the county council	Horsham Learning Alliance
Ifield Community College	Crawley	Maintained by the county council	The Collegiate Trust

Governance shows no simple pattern. The strongest school on value added, St Oscar Romero in Worthing, is maintained. So are several of the weakest, including St Wilfrid’s in Crawley. United Learning’s three sponsored academies are all above expectation. Section 5.2 asks the question formally.

3 How West Sussex compares

West Sussex, East Sussex, Brighton and Hove and England, 2024/25. Means of school-level figures; ranks among all local authorities (1 = highest).
Measure	West Sussex	East Sussex	Brighton and Hove	England
Attainment 8, all pupils	46.4 (71st)	43.8 (120th)	45.5 (85th)	46.8
Attainment 8, disadvantaged	33.5 (127th)	33.0 (135th)	33.9 (122nd)	37.7
Attainment 8, non-disadvantaged	48.9 (83rd)	47.5 (118th)	49.6 (68th)	49.9
Disadvantage gap (points)	15.4 (16th)	14.5 (29th)	15.7 (13th)	12.2
Disadvantaged (FSM6) %	17.1 (143rd)	25.5 (89th)	28.8 (74th)	28.4
Overall absence %	8.7 (71st)	9.7 (27th)	11.3 (1st)	8.6
Persistent absence %	23.9 (79th)	26.4 (31st)	30.6 (4th)	23.9
Mean KS2 (centred)	4.26 (79th)	3.79 (112th)	4.71 (50th)	4.47
EAL %	11.0 (97th)	6.3 (130th)	13.0 (83rd)	18.4
EHC plan %	2.6 (100th)	2.2 (128th)	4.1 (12th)	2.9

Against England, West Sussex has:

average results overall, but a wide disadvantage gap (15.4 points, 16th widest);
few disadvantaged pupils (17.1%);
average absence (8.7% on the school-mean measure);
slightly lower prior attainment than the national average, despite its affluence.

That combination is the puzzle. A county this advantaged would be expected to sit well above the national average. It sits on it.

Attainment 8 for disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils, school means, 2021/22 to 2024/25.

4 What explains attainment in West Sussex

The national model’s prediction for each school adds up exactly, factor by factor, to the gap between an area’s average and England’s. The East Sussex document explains the method.

Figure 2: Why average Attainment 8 differs from England’s, by factor, all school-years 2021/22 to 2024/25. Approximate Attainment 8 points; the pieces sum to the total printed in each panel.

The decomposition for West Sussex, in Attainment 8 points. Region and local authority together are ‘place’.
Factor	All pupils	Disadvantaged	Non-disadvantaged
Place (region and local authority)	-1.20	-2.79	-1.48
Prior attainment (KS2)	-0.57	-0.32	-0.46
English as an additional language	-0.07	-0.19	-0.10
Unexplained (school residual)	-0.06	-0.09	-0.06
Absence	+0.03	+0.08	+0.06
Other model terms	+0.12	-0.34	+0.10
Teacher workforce	+0.21	+0.02	+0.21
Ofsted rating	+0.41	+0.39	+0.39
Disadvantage (% FSM)	+0.91	-0.32	+0.47

For all pupils, West Sussex is only 0.2 points below England, but that small total hides large pieces pulling in opposite directions:

Lifting the county:
- its low disadvantage (+0.91);
- better Ofsted ratings (+0.41);
- its teacher workforce (+0.21).
Pulling it down:
- lower prior attainment (-0.57);
- place (-1.20), of which the county’s own effect is -0.74.

Absence contributes almost nothing either way (+0.03).

For disadvantaged pupils the gap is 3.4 points, and almost all of it is place: -2.79 points, of which -1.47 is the county’s own effect. The rest is the South East’s regional effect, which East Sussex shares.

This is the sharpest contrast in Sussex.

In East Sussex, the gap is absence and prior attainment, and the county’s schools do about what is expected.
In Brighton and Hove, absence costs the most, and the city’s schools more than make up for it.
In West Sussex, absence is not the issue. The county’s schools get less than expected from pupils who are, on paper, advantaged, and most of all from those who are not.

5 The county’s own effect

Figure 3: Local authority effects from the published national models, disadvantaged pupils, every authority in England with a 95% interval.

Table 2: Local authority effects and ranks (1 = best). ‘Significant’ means the 95% interval excludes zero.

Group	Local authority	Effect (%)	Rank	Significant
All pupils	Brighton and Hove	+4.5	5th of 152	Yes
All pupils	East Sussex	+1.1	49th of 152	No
All pupils	West Sussex	-1.5	115th of 152	No
Disadvantaged	Brighton and Hove	+4.2	14th of 151	Yes
Disadvantaged	East Sussex	+0.9	60th of 151	No
Disadvantaged	West Sussex	-3.8	131st of 151	Yes
Non-disadvantaged	Brighton and Hove	+5.0	4th of 151	Yes
Non-disadvantaged	East Sussex	+1.2	50th of 151	No
Non-disadvantaged	West Sussex	-2.3	124th of 151	Yes

West Sussex’s schools sit below expectation for every group:

disadvantaged pupils: -3.8%, 131st;
non-disadvantaged pupils: -2.3%, 124th.

Both are significant. This is a county-wide pattern across 40 schools and four years, not one or two schools.

Unlike Brighton and Hove, the ranking does not depend on absence. With the absence control the county is 132nd for disadvantaged pupils; without it, 133rd. The county’s attendance is not hiding effective schools, and it is not what holds the schools back.

What the model cannot say is why. The local authority effect is whatever the county’s schools share that the model does not measure:

how schools are supported and challenged;
how pupil premium funding is used;
curriculum and entry decisions;
the recruitment market in the county;
the expectations families and schools hold.

Identifying it would need the county’s own knowledge. This document can only point to it.

5.1 Do the districts differ?

The district test in the East Sussex document was run for every district in England. A district level is added to the national model, once on the published specification and once with each school’s own record in the model too.

Figure 4: West Sussex’s seven districts: district effect on Attainment 8 (all pupils and disadvantaged) and on absence, with 95% intervals, before and after adding a school term. Effects are over and above the county’s own effect.

On the published specification:

Crawley is 5.2% below expectation for all pupils, and significantly so.
Worthing is 3.2% above for non-disadvantaged pupils.

A plain comparison of the county’s 40 schools agrees that value added differs by district (F = 4.8, p = 0.001).

Crawley is different from Hastings. In East Sussex, Hastings’ effect disappeared once each school’s own record was in the model, because it was two schools. In Crawley:

every school is below expectation. All 7 have negative value added over the four years, from -1.1 to -6.0 points.
for non-disadvantaged pupils the district effect survives the school term (-3.5%), the only district in Sussex where any effect does.

The Crawley schools are of every kind:

maintained community schools;
a Church of England and a Catholic school;
a converter academy in a national trust;
a single-academy trust;
a free school.

What they share is the town. That is the closest thing in this analysis to a genuine place effect, and it is worth the county’s attention.

Figure 5: Each West Sussex school’s own persistent effect from the model with a school term, coloured by district: Attainment 8 (all pupils) and absence beyond what its intake predicts.

Each district has a document of its own: Adur, Arun, Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing. The district summary sets them beside East Sussex’s.

5.2 Do trusts make a difference?

The trust test is described fully in the East Sussex document. Nationally, schools in the same multi-academy trust share an effect of about 2.2% on Attainment 8, about the same as the local authority. It rises to 3.7% for disadvantaged pupils and 6.7% for absence. The test allows for the route each school took (sponsored, converter or maintained), because trusts are often given schools that were already struggling.

Figure 6: The national effect of each trust that ran a West Sussex school in 2024/25, with 95% intervals, estimated across all its secondary schools in England (number in brackets).

Two of the county’s trusts stand out nationally:

United Learning Trust runs Midhurst Rother College, The Regis School and Shoreham Academy. All three are sponsored academies, and all three are above expectation. Nationally, its schools are +6.1% above what their intakes predict, and +7.8% for disadvantaged pupils. This is evidence that sponsored schools on the coast can be turned around.
The Kemnal Academies Trust runs Thomas Bennett Community College in Crawley, Chichester High School and The Academy, Selsey. Its schools run +13% more absence than their intakes predict, significantly more than average. They are also -2.7% below expectation for non-disadvantaged pupils. Thomas Bennett has the lowest value added in the county.

The other trusts, including Bohunt, Ormiston, Woodard, Bosco and the county’s small local trusts, cannot be distinguished from average.

6 Absence in West Sussex

Figure 7: Overall absence in state-funded secondary schools, autumn and spring terms, 2016/17 to 2025/26. Sessions-weighted; 2019/20 was not collected.

Table 3: Secondary absence and persistent absence, autumn and spring terms, with rank among local authorities (1 = highest absence).

Year	West Sussex: absence / persistent	England
2016/17	5.2% (72nd) / 12.9% (72nd)	5.2% / 12.8%
2017/18	5.4% (59th) / 13.8% (76th)	5.4% / 13.6%
2018/19	5.3% (66th) / 12.9% (67th)	5.2% / 12.7%
2020/21	4.3% (98th) / 10.7% (95th)	4.6% / 11.7%
2021/22	8.4% (89th) / 26.2% (86th)	8.6% / 26.7%
2022/23	8.6% (80th) / 25.3% (76th)	8.7% / 25.2%
2023/24	8.4% (81st) / 23.9% (79th)	8.5% / 23.9%
2024/25	8.3% (63rd) / 22.6% (62nd)	8.1% / 21.9%
2025/26	8.1% (70th) / 21.4% (78th)	8.0% / 21.6%

West Sussex’s absence has tracked England’s closely for a decade. In 2025/26 it was 8.1% (70th of 152), and the county’s absence is almost exactly what its intake predicts: +0.03 points, 92nd of 151. It is not the problem that it is in East Sussex or Brighton and Hove.

Figure 8: Absence by register reason, autumn and spring terms, percentage of possible sessions. The ten largest reasons nationally.

Table 4: West Sussex against England, by reason, in percentage points of possible sessions.

Reason	West Sussex	England	Gap	Share of gap
Unauthorised, other	1.91	2.35	-0.45	-372%
Illness	4.09	3.67	+0.41	344%
Reduced timetable	0.55	0.29	+0.26	216%
Suspended (code E)	0.18	0.25	-0.07	-62%
Unauthorised holiday	0.23	0.29	-0.05	-45%
Authorised, other	0.43	0.38	+0.05	41%
Religious observance	0.04	0.08	-0.04	-30%
Medical appointments	0.40	0.36	+0.03	26%
Late	0.25	0.28	-0.03	-24%
No reason yet	0.01	0.03	-0.02	-16%
Interview	0.03	0.02	+0.02	15%

The profile is unusual, even though the total is not. Against England:

Illness is higher: 4.09 against 3.67% of sessions.
Unauthorised absence is lower: 1.91 against 2.35%. The two roughly cancel.
Reduced timetables stand out: 0.55% of sessions, 1.9 times England’s rate and the highest of the three Sussex authorities.

A reduced timetable is a decision made within the system, usually for a pupil with additional needs while support or a placement is arranged. At this rate it is worth the county knowing who these pupils are and how long they stay on them.

Suspensions, in contrast, are below the national rate: 16.2 episodes per 100 pupils in 2024/25, against 21.2 for England and 28.0 for East Sussex (94th of 152). That rate counts episodes, not pupils, and one pupil can be suspended several times in a year: 5.9 West Sussex pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 2.7 times each, against 7.3 per 100 and 2.9 times in England.

7 What absence costs, school by school

7.1 Two signals

Figure 9: West Sussex schools on the joint-signal plane, mean over 2021/22 to 2024/25: absence above or below what the intake predicts (horizontal) against value added with attendance counted in (vertical). Grey: every school in England.

As in East Sussex, the two signals go together across the county’s schools (correlation -0.58). But the spread is mainly vertical. West Sussex’s schools differ more in what they add than in how they manage attendance. Two schools are furthest from the centre:

St Oscar Romero in Worthing, far above, with attendance well better than its intake predicts.
Thomas Bennett Community College in Crawley, the lowest.

7.2 What closing the gap would be worth

Table 5: Predicted Attainment 8 gain if each school’s absence fell to the national school average (2024/25), and if its disadvantage fell to the county average. Indicative only.

School	District	Absence %	FSM %	Gain, all pupils	Gain, disadvantaged	Gain from FSM to area average
The Littlehampton Academy	Arun	12.7	23.7	+3.1	+3.3	+0.6
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley	Crawley	11.9	27.2	+3.0	+3.4	+1.0
St Andrew's CofE High School	Worthing	11.1	21.5	+2.3	+2.9	+0.5
Thomas Bennett Community College	Crawley	11.6	38.1	+2.1	+2.4	+1.3
The Academy, Selsey	Chichester	11.1	22.7	+2.1	+2.6	+0.5
Ifield Community College	Crawley	10.9	28.8	+2.0	+2.4	+1.1
Chichester High School	Chichester	10.7	23.5	+1.8	+2.0	+0.6
The Angmering School	Arun	10.3	16.9	+1.6	+1.5	+0.0
The Burgess Hill Academy	Mid Sussex	10.0	19.1	+1.4	+1.6	+0.2
Sackville School	Mid Sussex	9.9	12.9	+1.4	+1.5	+0.0
Imberhorne School	Mid Sussex	9.5	13.2	+1.0	+0.8	+0.0
Steyning Grammar School	Horsham	9.3	13.6	+0.8	+0.8	+0.0
The Sir Robert Woodard Academy	Adur	9.3	24.9	+0.7	+0.7	+0.8
The Gatwick School	Crawley	9.2	23.2	+0.5	+0.6	+0.6
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
Oriel High School	Crawley	8.8	12.5	+0.3	+0.2	+0.0
Felpham Community College	Arun	8.8	16.3	+0.3	+0.3	+0.0
Millais School	Horsham	8.7	12.8	+0.1	+0.1	+0.0
Bourne Community College	Chichester	8.6	22.4	+0.0	+0.0	+0.5
Hazelwick School	Crawley	6.6	20.5	+0.0	+0.0	+0.5
The Regis School	Arun	8.1	25.3	+0.0	+0.0	+0.9
St Oscar Romero Catholic School	Worthing	5.2	18.5	+0.0	+0.0	+0.2

20 of the county’s 40 schools are above the national average absence. The gains are smaller than in East Sussex: up to 3.1 points at The Littlehampton Academy and Holy Trinity in Crawley, and an average of 1.3 across the 20. Attendance still beats redistribution of disadvantage, which buys at most 1.3 points. But in West Sussex neither is where the main gain lies. That is the gap between what the county’s schools achieve and what the model expects of them.

8 School by school: contextual league tables

Value added, all pupils: observed Attainment 8 minus the national model’s expectation, in points. 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
Downlands Community School	+3.3	+3.4	+4.4	+6.1	+7.4	+4.9	5
Millais School	+5.4	+1.8	+2.9	+1.6	+2.6	+2.9	5
Durrington High School	+2.4	+1.0	+2.0	+5.2	+3.8	+2.9	5
The Regis School	+6.1	+1.2	+1.5	+0.3	+4.7	+2.8	5
Steyning Grammar School			+0.4	+5.0	+2.5	+2.7	3
Shoreham Academy	+2.7	+3.0	+3.9	+3.9	-0.9	+2.5	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
Oathall Community College	-1.5	+2.2	+1.4	+3.0	+2.2	+1.5	5
Imberhorne School	-0.3	+2.5	+0.5	+0.9	+2.0	+1.1	5
Tanbridge House School	-0.3	+2.3	-0.1	+0.5	+2.6	+1.0	5
Sackville School	+0.8	+1.1	-0.2	+1.9	+1.3	+1.0	5
Midhurst Rother College	+1.4	+4.1	-1.1	+0.8	-0.7	+0.9	5
Warden Park Secondary Academy	-0.1	+1.9	+1.8	-0.8	+0.7	+0.7	5
St Philip Howard Catholic School	+0.5	-0.0	+2.0	+1.6	-0.6	+0.7	5
Ormiston Six Villages Academy	+2.7	+0.1	+0.5	-0.8	+0.2	+0.6	5
The Burgess Hill Academy			-2.5	+1.9	+0.2	-0.1	3
The Forest School	-0.1	+0.3	-0.8	-2.5		-0.8	4
The Sir Robert Woodard Academy	+0.4	-0.5	-0.1	-2.5	-1.1	-0.8	5
Weald School, The	-0.4	-0.6	-0.0	-3.2	+0.2	-0.8	5
Bourne Community College	+0.4	-0.9	+2.8	-4.0	-2.5	-0.8	5
Chichester High School	-0.1	-1.1	+0.5	-2.9	-2.5	-1.2	5
Bishop Luffa School, Chichester	+0.5	-2.0	-2.5	-2.2	-0.7	-1.4	5
St Paul's Catholic College			-1.5	-2.5	-0.7	-1.6	3
The Academy, Selsey	-2.5	-3.0	+1.2	-1.2	-2.3	-1.6	5
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley	-2.4	-1.5	-0.2	-0.6	-3.2	-1.6	5
Bohunt School Worthing	-2.0	-1.3	-2.3	-0.9	-2.4	-1.8	5
Bohunt Horsham			+0.6	-2.8	-3.6	-1.9	3
Ifield Community College	-4.2	-4.6	-0.3	+0.2		-2.2	4
Felpham Community College	+0.3	-2.7	-3.2	-3.0	-3.1	-2.3	5
Oriel High School	-2.0	-2.8	-0.4	-3.7	-3.3	-2.4	5
The Angmering School	-1.7	-2.8	-3.8	-1.4	-2.8	-2.5	5
Hazelwick School	+0.3	-2.1	-2.7	-1.8	-7.1	-2.7	5
Chichester Free School	-2.1	-7.5	-2.3	-0.6	-1.9	-2.9	5
The Gatwick School	-5.7	-7.7	-4.2	-1.0	+1.5	-3.4	5
The Littlehampton Academy	-3.0	-5.6	-2.7	-2.9	-4.4	-3.7	5
St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley	-3.1	-2.3	-3.4	-7.9	-7.4	-4.8	5
Thomas Bennett Community College	-4.9	-6.9	-6.6	-6.2	-4.1	-5.7	5

Value added, disadvantaged pupils. Small groups; figures move by several points from year to year.
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
Downlands Community School	-0.8	-0.4	+5.1	+10.9	+5.8	+4.1	5
Shoreham Academy	+2.5	+5.2	+3.2	+10.5	-1.5	+4.0	5
Steyning Grammar School			+2.9	+5.2	+1.8	+3.3	3
Millais School	+3.1	+6.7	+6.3	-1.7	+1.9	+3.3	5
The Regis School	+5.4	+3.0	+1.5	+2.3	+3.4	+3.1	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
The Sir Robert Woodard Academy	+5.8	+0.0	+4.3	-0.4	+3.6	+2.7	5
Durrington High School	+0.6	+0.5	+0.8	+3.9	+6.4	+2.4	5
Midhurst Rother College	+5.1	+3.2	-1.9	-0.4	+2.9	+1.8	5
Sackville School	+2.8	+4.2	-7.0	+3.7	+4.7	+1.7	5
The Academy, Selsey	-8.0	+8.6	+5.0	+2.6	-3.7	+0.9	5
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing	+5.2	-1.8	+0.8	-0.6	+0.9	+0.9	5
The Forest School	-0.6	-2.9	+6.5	-0.3		+0.7	4
Ormiston Six Villages Academy	+5.2	-4.7	-3.4	-1.5	+6.3	+0.4	5
Ifield Community College	-0.5	-1.4	+1.3	+1.7		+0.3	4
Felpham Community College	+3.1	+4.1	-1.9	-3.0	-3.3	-0.2	5
Bohunt Horsham			+3.0	-1.8	-2.8	-0.5	3
Bourne Community College	+1.1	+2.4	+4.6	-6.3	-5.1	-0.7	5
Imberhorne School	+2.8	+2.7	-6.6	-4.6	+0.5	-1.1	5
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley	-3.6	-0.9	+0.5	+1.3	-3.8	-1.3	5
Chichester Free School	-6.4	-3.6	+3.9	+2.6	-3.1	-1.3	5
St Philip Howard Catholic School	-8.4	-0.9	+2.1	-0.5	-0.2	-1.6	5
The Burgess Hill Academy			-2.0	+2.1	-5.9	-1.9	3
Weald School, The	-4.9	+0.3	-4.5	-1.6	+0.9	-1.9	5
Chichester High School	+0.7	-5.2	+1.0	-0.6	-6.0	-2.0	5
The Littlehampton Academy	-1.6	-1.2	-1.9	-2.5	-3.3	-2.1	5
The Angmering School	-5.5	+3.2	-3.2	-2.8	-2.5	-2.2	5
Warden Park Secondary Academy	-0.2	-4.3	-4.0	-6.5	+4.1	-2.2	5
Hazelwick School	+0.7	-3.7	-0.6	-1.5	-5.9	-2.2	5
Tanbridge House School	+0.3	-1.4	-5.2	-4.1	-1.4	-2.4	5
The Gatwick School	-4.1	-8.2	+0.9	-3.1	+0.8	-2.7	5
Oriel High School	+0.5	-1.4	-0.7	-7.7	-4.8	-2.8	5
St Paul's Catholic College			-7.3	+1.1	-2.3	-2.8	3
Bishop Luffa School, Chichester	+3.6	-3.8	-6.3	-10.1	+0.8	-3.1	5
Oathall Community College	-7.7	-3.9	-6.6	+0.2	+0.8	-3.4	5
Bohunt School Worthing	+0.1	-0.9	-1.9	-4.7	-9.9	-3.5	5
Thomas Bennett Community College	-2.5	-4.4	-5.5	-4.7	-5.7	-4.6	5
St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley	-7.1	-3.2	-4.4	-9.2	-3.8	-5.5	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
Downlands Community School	+4.3	+4.4	+4.6	+5.8	+7.7	+5.4	5
Durrington High School	+3.4	+1.8	+2.3	+5.7	+3.1	+3.2	5
Shoreham Academy	+3.8	+2.9	+4.8	+2.9	+0.0	+2.9	5
Millais School	+5.8	+1.6	+2.3	+1.9	+2.7	+2.9	5
The Regis School	+5.8	+0.7	+1.5	+0.1	+5.1	+2.6	5
Oathall Community College	+0.2	+3.7	+2.3	+3.8	+2.8	+2.6	5
Steyning Grammar School			-0.2	+4.7	+2.4	+2.3	3
Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing	+2.8	+1.5	+1.9	+2.9	+0.4	+1.9	5
Tanbridge House School	+0.7	+3.3	+0.9	+1.3	+3.2	+1.9	5
Worthing High School	+3.5	+2.6	+2.2	+2.5	-2.3	+1.7	5
Imberhorne School	-0.6	+2.3	+0.8	+1.5	+2.2	+1.2	5
St Philip Howard Catholic School	+2.0	+0.5	+2.1	+1.9	-0.4	+1.2	5
Warden Park Secondary Academy	+0.1	+3.0	+2.6	-0.3	+0.6	+1.2	5
St Andrew's CofE High School	-0.2	+1.2	+3.0	-1.2	+2.2	+1.0	5
Midhurst Rother College	+1.1	+4.3	-1.0	+0.8	-1.2	+0.8	5
Sackville School	+0.9	+0.4	+0.2	+1.2	+0.6	+0.7	5
Ormiston Six Villages Academy	+2.1	+1.5	+1.5	-1.0	-1.4	+0.5	5
Weald School, The	+1.0	-0.2	+1.0	-2.8	+0.3	-0.1	5
The Burgess Hill Academy			-3.2	+1.6	+1.1	-0.2	3
Chichester High School	-0.2	+0.3	+0.3	-3.6	+0.0	-0.6	5
Bishop Luffa School, Chichester	+0.8	-1.5	-1.5	-1.1	-0.1	-0.7	5
Bourne Community College	+0.3	-1.8	+2.4	-2.9	-1.6	-0.7	5
St Paul's Catholic College			-0.4	-2.2	+0.2	-0.8	3
The Forest School	-0.0	+0.5	-2.1	-2.6		-1.1	4
The Sir Robert Woodard Academy	-0.6	+0.4	-0.9	-2.3	-1.9	-1.1	5
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley	-2.1	-1.7	-0.3	-1.0	-2.1	-1.4	5
Bohunt School Worthing	-2.4	-1.0	-2.5	-0.8	-1.4	-1.6	5
The Academy, Selsey	+0.1	-6.1	-0.1	-2.6	-1.7	-2.1	5
Bohunt Horsham			+0.2	-3.0	-3.5	-2.1	3
Hazelwick School	+0.5	-1.1	-2.6	-1.2	-6.8	-2.2	5
The Angmering School	-0.4	-3.8	-4.0	-1.3	-1.9	-2.3	5
Oriel High School	-2.0	-2.8	-0.4	-3.3	-3.2	-2.3	5
Ifield Community College	-5.1	-5.4	-0.7	-0.1		-2.8	4
Felpham Community College	-0.4	-4.1	-3.6	-3.4	-3.0	-2.9	5
Chichester Free School	-0.7	-7.6	-3.1	-1.4	-1.7	-2.9	5
The Gatwick School	-6.2	-7.3	-5.8	-0.8	+1.4	-3.7	5
The Littlehampton Academy	-3.0	-6.7	-2.7	-3.2	-3.9	-3.9	5
St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley	-2.4	-1.9	-3.0	-7.8	-7.7	-4.6	5
Thomas Bennett Community College	-5.1	-6.6	-5.7	-5.4	-3.1	-5.2	5

23 of the county’s 40 schools are below expectation for their disadvantaged pupils on average over five years. Several of them do well overall:

Oathall Community College and Warden Park in Mid Sussex;
Tanbridge House in Horsham.

These are affluent schools whose small disadvantaged groups do markedly less well than their other pupils, and less well than similar pupils elsewhere. Their disadvantaged cohorts are small and the figures noisy, but the pattern repeats across the schools. It is where the county’s weak disadvantaged effect is most visible.

9 West Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove

Table 6: The three authorities side by side. Model figures are from the national models over 2021/22 to 2024/25.

Measure	West Sussex	East Sussex	Brighton and Hove
Attainment 8, all (2024/25)	46.4	43.8	45.5
Attainment 8, disadvantaged	33.5	33.0	33.9
Disadvantaged %	17.1	25.5	28.8
Prior attainment (KS2, centred)	4.26	3.79	4.71
Absence, 2025/26 (rank)	8.1% (70th)	8.9% (31st)	9.8% (6th)
Absence above intake-predicted	+0.03	+0.32	+1.98
Reduced timetables, % of sessions	0.55	0.39	0.29
Suspension episodes per 100, 2024/25	16.2	28.0	13.0
LA effect, all pupils (rank)	115th	49th	5th
LA effect, disadvantaged (rank)	131st	60th	14th
Absence's cost to the gap with England (points)	0.03	-1.11	-1.96
Place's cost to disadvantaged pupils (points)	-2.79	-1.03	0.17

The three authorities share a region, a coastline, and a disadvantage gap of about fifteen points. The national model sees three different systems:

Brighton and Hove: effective schools held back by an absence problem far beyond what its intake predicts.
East Sussex: schools that do about what is expected, with pupils who arrive with lower prior attainment and run the absence their intake predicts.
West Sussex: advantaged intakes, ordinary attendance, and schools that get less from their pupils than the model expects. This is most marked for disadvantaged pupils and in Crawley.

The levers differ accordingly:

Brighton and Hove: attendance.
East Sussex: attendance and prior attainment.
West Sussex: what happens inside its schools, for its disadvantaged pupils and in Crawley in particular. That is a harder lever to identify from published data, and the most important one here.

10 Implications and questions for discussion

The county’s own effect is the largest addressable factor. For disadvantaged pupils it costs about 1.5 points on its own, as much as absence costs East Sussex. What do West Sussex’s schools share that similar schools elsewhere do not?
Crawley. Every school in the town is below expectation, whoever runs it. A town-wide look at recruitment, intake, transport and provision would be a natural place to start.
Disadvantaged pupils in advantaged schools. Some of the county’s strongest schools overall are below expectation for their disadvantaged pupils. How pupil premium is used in schools where disadvantaged pupils are few is worth asking about.
Reduced timetables. These run at nearly twice the national rate. Who is on them, for how long, and with what outcome?
Absence is not the priority here, and the county should not import its neighbours’ diagnosis.

Notes on method

The methods are those of the East Sussex document, with the same sources, all published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This document is built by R/17_area_analysis.R, R/18_district_effects.R, R/19_trust_effects.R and west_sussex.qmd. The decomposition and absence figures are sessions-weighted or school-mean as described there.