Which school has the best GCSE results in West Sussex?

On 2025 Attainment 8, Downlands Community School tops the table in West Sussex with 57.3, against an England average of 46.0. Attainment 8 rewards intake as well as teaching, so compare a school's grade 5+ pass rate and, where published, its Progress 8 before reading the rank as a verdict.

When are the 2026 GCSE results for West Sussex schools published?

Pupils receive their results in August, but school-by-school figures come from the DfE performance tables, which publish provisional results in the autumn (usually mid-October) and revised figures early in the new year. This table shows 2025 results, the 2024/25 academic year, and updates when the next release is imported.

What is Attainment 8?

Attainment 8 is the DfE's headline GCSE measure: the average points a school's pupils achieved across eight qualifications, with English and maths counted twice. A score of 50 means pupils averaged roughly a grade 5 across those subjects. No Progress 8 exists for 2025 because these pupils sat no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020.

Why does a school in West Sussex show no GCSE results?

A school has no published figure when it had no Year 11 cohort in the year (a new school, or one that opened with younger year groups), when it converted to an academy and the DfE published results under its previous identity, or when it is independent and its pupils sat IGCSE, Pre-U or IB qualifications that the DfE tables do not count. Independent schools with a published figure are listed separately and unranked for that reason.

West Sussex GCSE results 2025: secondary school league table

38 state secondary schools in West Sussex ranked on their 2025 GCSE results (Attainment 8, the 2024/25 academic year, the latest DfE has published for every school), with grade 5+ and grade 4+ in English and maths, EBacc average point score and cohort size for each school against the England average. 2 schools with no published results are listed at the end. 12 independent schools with published results are listed separately, unranked.

Local Authority 40 state secondary schools 2024/25 results

Secondary schools in West Sussex ranked on Attainment 8

38 of 40 schools have published 2025 results. Source: DfE school performance tables, 2024/25.

Secondary schools in West Sussex ranked on Attainment 8, 2025 results
Rank	School	Attainment 8	Grade 5+ English & maths	Grade 4+ English & maths	EBacc APS	Pupils
–	England average	46.0	45%	65%	4.09	–
1	Downlands Community School Hassocks · Community school	57.3	66%	86%	5.33	231
2	St Paul's Catholic College Burgess Hill · Academy converter	55.5	64%	87%	5.13	181
3	St Oscar Romero Catholic School Worthing · Voluntary aided school	55.1	60%	80%	5.01	195
4	Shoreham Academy Shoreham-by-Sea · Academy sponsor led	54.8	65%	82%	5.01	286
5	Tanbridge House School Horsham · Community school	54.2	59%	81%	4.68	298
6	Bishop Luffa School, Chichester Chichester · Academy converter	52.6	59%	78%	4.65	235
7	St Philip Howard Catholic School Bognor Regis · Academy converter	52.5	48%	74%	4.82	212
8	Warden Park Secondary Academy Haywards Heath · Academy converter	52.4	58%	79%	4.58	292
9	Davison Church of England High School for Girls, Worthing Worthing · Voluntary controlled school	52.1	57%	78%	4.33	258
10=	Millais School Horsham · Community school	51.6	59%	79%	4.74	290
10=	Oathall Community College Haywards Heath · Community school	51.6	58%	75%	4.81	231
12	Hazelwick School Crawley · Academy converter	50.2	46%	67%	4.56	303
13	Durrington High School Worthing · Academy converter	49.8	55%	74%	4.03	317
14	Bohunt Horsham Horsham · Free schools	49.5	59%	82%	4.63	125
15	Midhurst Rother College Midhurst · Academy sponsor led	48.8	56%	75%	4.52	210
16	Steyning Grammar School Steyning · Academy converter	48.7	49%	72%	4.47	359
17	Worthing High School Worthing · Academy converter	48.6	47%	72%	4.40	209
18	Weald School, The Billingshurst · Community school	47.1	48%	67%	4.07	296
19	Bohunt School Worthing Worthing · Academy sponsor led	46.7	44%	67%	4.21	178
20	Sackville School East Grinstead · Community school	46.1	41%	69%	4.04	271
21	St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley Crawley · Voluntary aided school	45.5	39%	66%	3.76	188
22	Oriel High School Crawley · Community school	45.4	43%	63%	3.86	240
23	Imberhorne School East Grinstead · Community school	45.1	43%	63%	3.97	243
24	Chichester Free School Chichester · Free schools	44.9	40%	72%	4.02	117
25	The Burgess Hill Academy Burgess Hill · Academy sponsor led	44.6	48%	65%	3.81	209
26	The Regis School West Sussex · Academy sponsor led	43.6	44%	63%	3.85	285
27	Ormiston Six Villages Academy Chichester · Academy sponsor led	42.8	40%	61%	3.47	111
28	The Sir Robert Woodard Academy Sompting · Academy sponsor led	42.1	38%	62%	4.14	237
29	Felpham Community College Bognor Regis · Community school	41.9	29%	61%	3.53	264
30=	Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley Crawley · Voluntary aided school	41.7	35%	58%	3.38	206
30=	St Andrew's CofE High School Worthing · Voluntary aided school	41.7	36%	55%	3.57	107
32	The Angmering School Littlehampton · Community school	41.0	36%	57%	3.44	260
33	The Gatwick School Crawley · Free schools	39.7	30%	53%	3.27	112
34	Bourne Community College Emsworth · Foundation school	39.1	33%	59%	3.39	147
35	Chichester High School Chichester · Academy converter	39.0	29%	51%	3.35	230
36	The Academy, Selsey Chichester · Academy sponsor led	38.0	39%	53%	3.05	88
37	The Littlehampton Academy Littlehampton · Academy sponsor led	37.2	32%	52%	3.01	236
38	Thomas Bennett Community College Crawley · Academy converter	33.1	22%	44%	2.93	176
–	Ifield Community College Crawley · Academy converter · No published GCSE results	–	–	–	–	–
–	The Forest School Horsham · Academy converter · No published GCSE results	–	–	–	–	–

Schools with the same Attainment 8 score share a rank (shown as "=").

Independent schools in West Sussex with published GCSE results

Listed as published, not ranked. The DfE tables count only reformed GCSEs, so a school whose pupils sit IGCSE, Pre-U or the IB reports a lower figure than its results merit, or none at all. Compare independent schools on their own published examination results and inspection reports.

School	Attainment 8 (as published)	Grade 5+ English & maths	Pupils
Ardingly College Haywards Heath · Other independent school	7.0	0%	270
Burgess Hill Girls Burgess Hill · Other independent school	39.0	0%	54
Christ's Hospital Horsham · Other independent school	9.8	0%	146
Farlington School Horsham · Other independent school	11.9	0%	68
Great Ballard School Chichester · Other independent school	37.3	0%	23
Hurstpierpoint College Hassocks · Other independent school	11.8	0%	204
Lancing College Lancing · Other independent school	36.8	0%	122
Our Lady of Sion School West Sussex · Other independent school	34.6	0%	44
Seaford College Other independent school	31.0	0%	135
Shoreham College Other independent school	56.1	65%	48
Slindon College Arundel · Other independent school	18.0	13%	16
Worth School Crawley · Other independent school	19.8	0%	138

How to read this table

Attainment 8 is the average points a school's pupils achieved across eight GCSE subjects: English and maths (double-weighted), three EBacc subjects (sciences, computing, history, geography, languages) and three further approved qualifications. The DfE publishes it for every state school; the England average for 2025 was 46.0.

Grade 5+ in English and maths is the share of pupils reaching a "strong pass" in both; grade 4+ is the "standard pass". EBacc APS is the average point score across the English Baccalaureate subjects, including pupils who did not enter them.

Progress 8 is not shown: the DfE published no Progress 8 for 2025 because these pupils sat no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020, the baseline it is measured from, and the same applies to 2026. Attainment 8 rewards intake as well as teaching, so a selective school will usually top an attainment-only table.

Ranks are shared where scores tie. Schools are ranked here on published results alone; our composite score, which also weighs Ofsted inspection, progress and attendance, orders the same schools on the best secondary schools page.

See the best secondary schools in West Sussex on our composite score

West Sussex GCSE results 2025: secondary school league table

Secondary schools in West Sussex ranked on Attainment 8

Independent schools in West Sussex with published GCSE results

More about schools in West Sussex

West Sussex GCSE results: common questions