Willingdon Community School
Secondary · Community school · Mixed · East Sussex
Broad Road, Eastbourne, BN20 9QX
68
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
School remains Good
No graded inspection
Application demand
75%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
92.6%
19.1% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,117
Capacity used
Over capacity106%
1,053 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
75%
1st preference success rate
198 of 265 families who put it first got an offer
206
Places offered
567
Total applications
2.8
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 265 | 198 | ● 75% |
| 2nd preference | 164 | 5 | ● 3% |
| 3rd preference | 138 | 3 | ● 2% |
| Total | 567 | 206 | 36% |
1st preference success by year
East Sussex lets families list 3 preferences. Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Community school
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- No
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Emily May
- Address
- Broad Road, Lower Willingdon, Eastbourne, BN20 9QX
- Phone
- 01323485254
- Local authority
- East Sussex
- Ward / constituency
- Lower Willingdon · Lewes
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 114592
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 20% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 3% | — | — |
| SEN support | 13% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 2 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
1,117 pupils · 1,053 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 23
14 June 2023
Ungraded inspection
School remains Good
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,119 pupils
Attendance
92.6%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
7.4%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
19.1%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.1%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.4%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 47.9 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.08 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 47% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 73% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 4.16 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 45 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 48.5% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 70.7% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 39.4% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.98 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 198 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 196 | 15% | 56% | 76% | |
| English Language | 196 | 18% | 57% | 74% | |
| English Literature | 194 | 18% | 54% | 73% | |
| Combined Science | 133 | 0% | 24% | 55% | |
| Geography | 86 | 24% | 47% | 63% | |
| History | 76 | 18% | 49% | 58% | |
| Social Studies | 64 | 11% | 31% | 47% | |
| Biology | 61 | 33% | 85% | 98% | |
| Physics | 60 | 23% | 75% | 97% | |
| Chemistry | 60 | 25% | 75% | 95% | |
| Design & Technology | 59 | 12% | 41% | 59% | |
| Spanish | 55 | 25% | 75% | 84% |
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through East Sussex council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.