Each school coloured by Value Added v2.1 for all pupils; choose another measure, including absence against intake, from the menu. Circle size is the school’s roll; hover for every group’s value added, absence against intake, the published v1 figure, and Ofsted.
Wealden
Value Added v2.1 for the secondary schools of Wealden, East Sussex.
NoteAbout this page
Value Added v2.1 for Wealden’s state-funded secondary schools, 2021/22 to 2024/25, measured against England (see the method), with the analyses of the original Sussex document refitted on the v2.1 model. Built from published DfE and Ofsted data; nothing uses pupil-level records.
Summary
- 6 schools, with value added for all pupils averaging +0.6 points against England: 3 significantly above expectation and 2 below.
- Disadvantaged pupils +0.9, non-disadvantaged +0.2; girls +0.5, boys +0.6.
- Strongest: Beacon Academy (+4.3). Weakest: Hailsham Community College (-3.1).
- Absence runs 0.3 points above what the intake predicts on average over 2021/22 to 2024/25; Uckfield College more than a point above.
- 0 of 6 schools add value with attendance at or better than their intake predicts; 3 add value despite worse attendance, and 2 are below expectation with worse attendance (value added and attendance).
- District effects on the v2.1 model (Wealden for disadvantaged pupils (+4.4%)) disappear once each school’s own record is counted: they belong to schools, not places.
- Suspensions: 21.9 episodes per 100 pupils (England 21.2); 7.3 pupils per 100 suspended at least once (England 7.3). Reduced timetables run at 1.9 times the national rate.
- Latest Ofsted: 4 graded inspections and 2 ungraded visits only.
- 2025/26, provisional: value added for all pupils averages +0.9 points across the area’s schools on DfE’s provisional results. This will be updated with the revised release in February 2027.
The schools
| School | District | All pupils | Disadv. | Non-disadv. | Girls | Boys | Absence vs intake | 2025/26 (provisional) | v1 | Ofsted latest | Run by (2024/25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | Wealden | +4.3 (+2.2 to +6.6) | +4.8 | +3.6 | +4.3 | +3.7 | +0.8 | +1.8 | +3.0 | Outstanding (Apr 2024) | Mark Education Trust |
| Uckfield College | Wealden | +3.1 (+1.0 to +5.3) | -0.5 | +3.1 | +3.0 | +2.9 | +1.6 | +1.7 | +1.4 | Outstanding (Apr 2024) | Maintained by the council |
| Heathfield Community College | Wealden | +2.2 (+0.1 to +4.4) | +4.8 | +1.2 | +1.2 | +2.8 | +0.8 | +3.7 | +2.2 | Good (May 2023) | Maintained by the council |
| Uplands Academy | Wealden | -0.5 (-2.4 to +1.5) | +2.4 | -1.6 | +0.5 | -1.4 | +0.1 | -0.7 | -0.9 | Standards maintained (Jan 2025, ungraded visit) | Mark Education Trust |
| Willingdon Community School | Wealden | -2.3 (-4.3 to -0.2) | -3.1 | -1.9 | -2.8 | -1.4 | -2.1 | -1.9 | -2.3 | Remains Good (Jun 2023, ungraded visit) | Maintained by the council |
| Hailsham Community College | Wealden | -3.1 (-4.7 to -1.5) | -3.1 | -3.5 | -2.9 | -3.1 | +0.8 | -2.5 | Inadequate (Mar 2023) | Academy, trust not recorded |
Who runs them
Value added and attendance
Two questions, kept apart. Does the school add value? Value Added v2.1 answers that with absence allowed for: a school with more absence is expected to score lower, so it is judged on what it achieves given its attendance. Does it hold attendance? Absence against intake answers that: how far its absence runs above or below what pupils like its own would predict. The chart sets one against the other. Neither contains the other, so the four corners mean what they say.
Of 6 schools, 0 add value with attendance at or better than their intake predicts, and 3 add value despite worse attendance. 2 are below expectation with worse attendance, and 1 is below expectation despite attendance at or better than predicted. Across England the two are close to independent (correlation -0.07; 0.58 across Wealden’s schools). Adding value and holding attendance are different things, and plenty of schools do one without the other.
Value added with no allowance for absence. The map also offers value added from the model without its absence term. It does not excuse a school its absence: for every percentage point its absence runs above what its intake predicts, it loses about 1.1 Attainment 8 points against Value Added v2.1. It is the two axes above folded into one number, so it belongs on the map, not on this chart, where it would contain the absence it is plotted against.
See the methodology.
Value added allowing for the kind of absence. The map also offers value added with the illness share of absence in the expectation: where more of a school’s absence is illness, the same absence is expected to cost less. It is published beside Value Added v2.1, not in it, because what is authorised as illness is partly the school’s own coding (methodology). Across Wealden’s schools the two agree at 1.00; no school moves by as much as half a point.
| School | District | Value added v2.1 | Absence vs intake | No allowance for absence | Run by (2024/25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furthest above | |||||
| Beacon Academy | Wealden | +4.3 | +0.8 | +3.0 | Mark Education Trust |
| Uckfield College | Wealden | +3.1 | +1.6 | +0.9 | Maintained by the council |
| Heathfield Community College | Wealden | +2.2 | +0.8 | +0.7 | Maintained by the council |
| Furthest below | |||||
| Uplands Academy | Wealden | -0.5 | +0.1 | -1.4 | Mark Education Trust |
| Willingdon Community School | Wealden | -2.3 | -2.1 | -0.2 | Maintained by the council |
| Hailsham Community College | Wealden | -3.1 | +0.8 | -4.7 | Academy, trust not recorded |
What Wealden’s schools add, and what absence takes away
Value added already counts absence as part of a school’s context, so what absence moves and what the school moves are separate quantities rather than one counted twice. Below, the blue bar is what this area’s absence is worth against the England average of 8.6% in 2024/25, run through the national gradient; the purple bar is the area’s mean value added, which is measured against England already. The diamond is the two together. Absence here is full-year absence in 2024/25, the mean of schools; value added covers 2021/22 to 2024/25. How the bars are computed from the model is set out in the methodology.
Wealden’s schools ran at 9.4% absence in 2024/25 against England’s 8.6%, which on the national gradient is worth -1.0 Attainment 8 points. Their mean value added is +0.6, so the two together leave the area -0.3 points against England. The schools are pulling against their attendance, and recovering 65% of it.
For disadvantaged pupils the same absence is worth -1.1 points of their Attainment 8 (mean 38.4), against -0.8 for non-disadvantaged pupils (mean 50.3) and -1.0 for pupils as a whole (47.5): the gradient is 77% steeper for them than for non-disadvantaged pupils, so wherever attendance is the problem it is a sharper problem for the pupils with least room to absorb it.
The gradient is associational. It says what schools with this much absence look like once intake is accounted for, not what this area would gain by changing it.
How Wealden compares
| Measure | Wealden | East Sussex | Brighton and Hove | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8, all pupils | 45.1 (162nd) | 43.8 | 45.5 | 46.8 |
| Attainment 8, disadvantaged | 34.0 (199th) | 33.0 | 33.9 | 37.7 |
| Attainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 47.6 (192nd) | 47.5 | 49.6 | 49.9 |
| Disadvantage gap (points) | 13.6 (101st) | 14.5 | 15.7 | 12.2 |
| Disadvantaged (FSM6) % | 20.0 (201st) | 25.5 | 28.8 | 28.4 |
| Overall absence % | 9.4 (67th) | 9.7 | 11.3 | 8.6 |
| Persistent absence % | 25.4 (78th) | 26.4 | 30.6 | 23.9 |
| Mean KS2 (centred) | 4.40 (128th) | 3.79 | 4.71 | 4.47 |
| EAL % | 3.3 (247th) | 6.3 | 13.0 | 18.4 |
| Value added v2.1, all pupils | +0.6 | +0.0 | +1.4 | 0.0 |
| Value added v2.1, disadvantaged | +0.9 | -0.7 | +0.4 | 0.0 |
| Value added v2.1, non-disadvantaged | +0.2 | +0.1 | +1.5 | 0.0 |
| Absence against intake (pp) | +0.3 | +0.4 | +1.7 | 0.0 |
What explains attainment in Wealden
| Factor | All pupils | Disadvantaged | Non-disadvantaged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Absence | -0.85 | -0.92 | -0.68 |
| English as an additional language | -0.64 | -1.24 | -0.64 |
| Place (region and local authority) | -0.15 | -1.20 | +0.06 |
| Single-sex school | -0.14 | -0.16 | -0.13 |
| School stops at 16 | -0.10 | -0.10 | -0.13 |
| Prior attainment (KS2) | +0.05 | +0.11 | +0.15 |
| Neighbourhood education | +0.05 | +0.02 | +0.06 |
| Pupil mobility | +0.11 | +0.11 | +0.11 |
| Other model terms | +0.17 | -0.27 | +0.11 |
| Special educational needs | +0.37 | +0.23 | +0.34 |
| Unexplained (school) | +0.76 | +2.21 | +0.14 |
| Disadvantage | +0.84 | -0.37 | +0.30 |
For all pupils, Wealden is 0.4 points above England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:
- absence (-0.85);
- disadvantage (+0.84);
- English as an additional language (-0.64);
- region (-0.40);
- special educational needs (+0.37);
- and the schools themselves (+0.76).
For disadvantaged pupils, Wealden is 1.6 points below England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:
- English as an additional language (-1.24);
- region (-1.23);
- absence (-0.92);
- disadvantage (-0.37);
- admissions (selection) (-0.28);
- and the schools themselves (+2.21).
For non-disadvantaged pupils, Wealden is 0.3 points below England. The pieces of at least a quarter of a point:
- absence (-0.68);
- English as an additional language (-0.64);
- local authority (+0.46);
- region (-0.40);
- special educational needs (+0.34);
- disadvantage (+0.30);
- and the schools themselves (+0.14).
Place: authorities and districts
The district test adds a district level to the v2.1 model, with and without each school’s own record. An effect that disappears once schools are counted belongs to particular schools; one that survives is something the district’s schools share.
Without each school’s own record: Wealden for disadvantaged pupils (+4.4%). With it, none remains: the differences belong to particular schools, not to the districts as places.
Trusts
The v2.1 model with a multi-academy trust level, allowing for each school’s own record and for how it came to be an academy, so trusts that take on struggling schools are not penalised for it. Nationally a trust moves results by about 3.0%, and absence by about 6.5%.
The disadvantaged gap, and girls and boys
Of 6 schools:
- 2 are above expectation for both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.
- 0 are above expectation for non-disadvantaged pupils but more than a point below it for disadvantaged ones: the gap schools.
- 0 have girls’ and boys’ value added more than two points apart.
| School | Disadvantaged | Non-disadvantaged | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Above expectation for both groups | |||
| Beacon Academy | +4.8 | +3.6 | -1.3 |
| Heathfield Community College | +4.8 | +1.2 | -3.5 |
Absence
- 9.4% absence in autumn and spring 2025/26 (9.3% a year earlier), against 8.0% for England. These are all sessions together, so a large school counts for more than a small one; the full-year 2024/25 figures in what absence takes away are a mean of schools.
- Against its intake, on the v2.1 intake terms, the area’s schools ran 0.35 points above what their pupils’ profiles predict over 2021/22 to 2024/25 (East Sussex +0.37 and Brighton and Hove +1.67).
- Uckfield College runs more than a point above its prediction.
- Willingdon Community School runs more than a point below.
| School | Absence % | Predicted by intake % | Above prediction | Illness | Unauthorised | Reduced timetable | Suspended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uckfield College | 10.2 | 8.7 | +1.6 | 5.3 | 1.9 | 1.01 | 0.24 |
| Beacon Academy | 9.6 | 8.8 | +0.8 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 0.40 | 0.12 |
| Heathfield Community College | 9.6 | 8.8 | +0.8 | 4.4 | 3.4 | 0.32 | 0.11 |
| Hailsham Community College | 11.0 | 10.2 | +0.8 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 0.55 | 0.50 |
| Uplands Academy | 9.9 | 9.8 | +0.1 | 4.1 | 1.8 | 0.73 | 0.24 |
| Willingdon Community School | 6.8 | 8.8 | -2.1 | 4.0 | 1.9 | 0.34 | 0.14 |
What goes with absence here
The national absence analysis models seven kinds of absence in every secondary school in England, using autumn and spring 2025/26 and the January 2026 census. Here it is applied to Wealden’s 5 schools with full data. It compares them with England, with East Sussex and Sussex, and with the neighbouring districts (Eastbourne, Lewes, Rother and Mid Sussex).
- Overall, Wealden’s schools have 13% more absence than England’s average school. Once their intake is allowed for, the difference is +8%.
- By kind, against England (in brackets, once intake is allowed for): illness is 26% higher (3% higher), unauthorised absence 8% higher (22% higher), and severe absence 50% higher (30% higher).
- What pushes absence up most here, against England, is ethnicity and language (+11% overall). What holds it down most is poverty (-8%). For illness, the biggest push is poverty (+8%).
- East Sussex’s own effect, after intake: illness +10% (30th of 152 authorities), unauthorised +0% (83rd).
- Heathfield Community College, Beacon Academy and Uckfield College each run more than a point above the absence their intake predicts.
| School | Overall | Above prediction | Illness | Unauthorised | Severe (50%+) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathfield Community College | 9.6 (7.7) | +1.8 | 4.4 (4.5) | 3.8 (2.0) | 4.6 (3.2) |
| Beacon Academy | 9.0 (7.8) | +1.2 | 4.5 (4.5) | 3.3 (2.1) | 4.7 (3.6) |
| Uckfield College | 9.5 (8.5) | +1.0 | 5.3 (4.8) | 2.1 (2.4) | 5.4 (4.0) |
| Uplands Academy | 8.3 (8.8) | -0.6 | 4.1 (4.3) | 2.2 (2.6) | 5.5 (4.2) |
| Willingdon Community School | 7.7 (8.6) | -0.9 | 4.0 (4.2) | 2.3 (2.7) | 2.7 (3.9) |
For heads and governors
The national page sets out what the school’s part in absence is. In short:
- Who runs a school, its size and its religious character make little difference to absence once intake is allowed for.
- Schools with the same intake can differ a great deal, and the differences persist from year to year.
The table compares each of Wealden’s schools with similar schools in its own authority, in 2024/25 and 2025/26. Click a school to open it in Find a twin, which finds its look-alikes across England, and the look-alikes that do much better.
- Heathfield Community College and Beacon Academy have unauthorised absence more than 20% above similar schools in both years. That is the pattern worth asking about.
| School | Overall 24/25 | Overall 25/26 | Unauthorised 24/25 | Unauthorised 25/26 | Severe 24/25 | Severe 25/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathfield Community College | +27% | +21% | +90% | +96% | +39% | +50% |
| Beacon Academy | +8% | +14% | +26% | +61% | +0% | +34% |
| Uckfield College | +20% | +10% | +21% | -6% | +70% | +41% |
| Willingdon Community School | -20% | -11% | -21% | -9% | -30% | -26% |
| Uplands Academy | -3% | -8% | -5% | -11% | -3% | +34% |
Suspensions were 21.9 episodes per 100 pupils in 2024/25, against 21.2 for England. One pupil can be suspended several times: 7.3 pupils per 100 were suspended at least once, about 3.0 times each, against 7.3 per 100 and 2.9 times in England. Reduced timetables take 0.56% of sessions, 1.9 times England’s rate.
| School | Pupils | Suspension episodes per 100 | Pupils suspended per 100 | Permanent exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uplands Academy | 736 | 53.4 | 14.7 | 1 |
| Uckfield College | 1602 | 26.8 | 7.6 | 1 |
| Hailsham Community College | 1615 | 19.4 | 8.5 | 1 |
| Willingdon Community School | 1093 | 17.3 | 6.7 | 0 |
| Heathfield Community College | 1437 | 14.9 | 6.2 | 2 |
| Beacon Academy | 1662 | 14.5 | 3.9 | 0 |
| School | Absence % | Gain, all pupils | Gain, disadvantaged |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathfield Community College | 10.5 | +2.4 | +3.2 |
| Uckfield College | 10.6 | +2.3 | +1.7 |
| Hailsham Community College | 10.0 | +1.3 | +1.5 |
| Beacon Academy | 9.1 | +0.7 | +0.8 |
| Uplands Academy | 9.0 | +0.5 | +0.6 |
Over time
Value added is computed for every year separately, then averaged. A single year moves a good deal; a three-year moving average centred on a year (that year, the one before and the one after) shows the trajectory more steadily. Years at the ends use the years they have. 2025/26 is provisional and shown as a hollow point. The explorer lets you choose the centre year and the window.
On the three-year centred average from 2022/23 to 2024/25, the largest rises are at Heathfield Community College (+2.9) and Willingdon Community School (+0.3) and the largest falls at Beacon Academy (-2.0) and Hailsham Community College (-2.9). The later windows include the provisional 2025/26 year.
| School | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathfield Community College | +1.3 | +5.0 | +4.3 |
| Beacon Academy | +5.4 | +4.6 | +3.4 |
| Uckfield College | +4.1 | +2.3 | +2.3 |
| Uplands Academy | -0.0 | -1.1 | -1.2 |
| Willingdon Community School | -2.5 | -3.0 | -2.2 |
| Hailsham Community College | -2.7 | -4.3 | -5.6 |
Contextual league tables
Warning2025/26 is provisional
2025/26 is provisional: predicted from the v2.1 model using DfE’s provisional KS4 results (October 2026), with absence bridged from autumn and spring and the intake data not yet published carried forward. It will be updated with the revised KS4 release in February 2027. It is shown beside the four-year figure, not averaged into it, and is not shrunk: one provisional year of a school’s results moves a good deal.
| School | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | v2.1, four years (shrunk) | 95% interval | 2025/26 (provisional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | +5.2 | +5.5 | +5.4 | +3.0 | +4.3 | +2.2 to +6.6 | +1.8 |
| Uckfield College | +7.1 | +1.8 | +3.4 | +1.9 | +3.1 | +1.0 to +5.3 | +1.7 |
| Heathfield Community College | -5.5 | +5.9 | +3.7 | +5.4 | +2.2 | +0.1 to +4.4 | +3.7 |
| Uplands Academy | +0.8 | -0.4 | -0.5 | -2.3 | -0.5 | -2.4 to +1.5 | -0.7 |
| Willingdon Community School | -1.4 | -4.4 | -1.7 | -3.1 | -2.3 | -4.3 to -0.2 | -1.9 |
| Hailsham Community College | -1.3 | -1.5 | -5.5 | -5.8 | -3.1 | -4.7 to -1.5 |
| School | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | v2.1, four years (shrunk) | 95% interval | 2025/26 (provisional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | +7.7 | +1.5 | +11.1 | +5.2 | +4.8 | +1.7 to +8.2 | -0.8 |
| Heathfield Community College | -7.6 | +10.5 | +8.8 | +14.1 | +4.8 | +1.7 to +8.1 | +2.1 |
| Uplands Academy | +1.1 | +9.7 | -0.8 | +2.1 | +2.4 | -0.5 to +5.5 | +5.0 |
| Uckfield College | +4.7 | -0.1 | +3.4 | -8.8 | -0.5 | -3.2 to +2.4 | +5.2 |
| Hailsham Community College | -5.7 | -1.4 | -5.0 | -4.4 | -3.1 | -5.3 to -0.7 | |
| Willingdon Community School | -7.5 | -2.8 | +2.7 | -8.9 | -3.1 | -5.9 to -0.1 | -7.4 |
| School | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | v2.1, four years (shrunk) | 95% interval | 2025/26 (provisional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | +4.6 | +5.6 | +3.8 | +2.0 | +3.6 | +1.2 to +6.0 | +1.5 |
| Uckfield College | +6.9 | +1.8 | +2.7 | +2.6 | +3.1 | +0.8 to +5.5 | +0.3 |
| Heathfield Community College | -5.1 | +4.9 | +2.3 | +3.0 | +1.2 | -1.0 to +3.6 | +3.5 |
| Uplands Academy | +0.8 | -3.0 | -1.3 | -3.8 | -1.6 | -3.6 to +0.6 | -2.4 |
| Willingdon Community School | +0.5 | -4.7 | -2.4 | -2.3 | -1.9 | -4.1 to +0.4 | -1.1 |
| Hailsham Community College | -0.6 | -2.2 | -6.2 | -6.7 | -3.5 | -5.2 to -1.6 |
| School | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | v2.1, four years (shrunk) | 95% interval | 2025/26 (provisional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | +4.5 | +5.1 | +7.4 | +3.4 | +4.3 | +1.6 to +7.1 | +0.0 |
| Uckfield College | +8.8 | -0.2 | +4.8 | +1.5 | +3.0 | +0.4 to +5.8 | +1.9 |
| Heathfield Community College | -7.2 | +5.5 | +1.8 | +5.1 | +1.2 | -1.4 to +3.9 | +2.3 |
| Uplands Academy | +2.4 | -0.9 | +1.4 | -0.8 | +0.5 | -1.9 to +3.0 | +0.5 |
| Willingdon Community School | -3.4 | -4.7 | -2.5 | -3.8 | -2.8 | -5.3 to -0.2 | -3.6 |
| Hailsham Community College | -0.8 | -4.8 | -6.0 | -2.4 | -2.9 | -4.9 to -0.8 |
| School | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | v2.1, four years (shrunk) | 95% interval | 2025/26 (provisional) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Academy | +5.6 | +6.0 | +3.4 | +2.6 | +3.7 | +1.1 to +6.5 | +3.1 |
| Uckfield College | +5.6 | +3.8 | +2.1 | +2.1 | +2.9 | +0.3 to +5.6 | +1.3 |
| Heathfield Community College | -4.4 | +6.2 | +5.2 | +5.6 | +2.8 | +0.1 to +5.5 | +4.8 |
| Willingdon Community School | +0.4 | -4.0 | -1.0 | -2.5 | -1.4 | -3.9 to +1.3 | -0.5 |
| Uplands Academy | -1.7 | +0.1 | -2.5 | -3.3 | -1.4 | -3.7 to +1.0 | -1.1 |
| Hailsham Community College | -1.9 | +1.9 | -5.0 | -9.2 | -3.1 | -5.0 to -1.0 |
Questions for discussion
- Disadvantaged pupils. Their value added averages +0.9 points across Wealden’s schools against +0.2 for other pupils. What do Beacon Academy, Heathfield Community College and Uplands Academy, above expectation for them, do that others could share?
- Attendance is a modest lever. Absence costs 0.9 points against England.
- Schools, not the place. No district effect survives each school’s own record on v2.1: the differences that matter are between schools.
- Practice. In Wealden, reduced timetables run at 1.9 times the national rate. These are choices made within schools.
- The authority. East Sussex’s own v2.1 effect for disadvantaged pupils is +0.2% (74th of 151), not distinguishable from zero, and for non-disadvantaged pupils +0.9% (56th).
Notes on method
Value Added v2.1 is described on the method page. The absence-against-intake measure, the district test, the trust analysis, the attendance-counted-in value added and the scenarios are refitted on the v2.1 specification by R/04_place_and_absence.R. The absence series, reasons and suspensions are the original project’s (R/17_area_analysis.R). School districts come from each school’s postcode. The decomposition splits each area’s mean log Attainment 8 against England’s into one piece per model term, exactly, and converts to points at England’s mean. This page is generated from templates/area.qmd by R/03_area_pages.R; the format is recorded in AREA_REPORTS.md.