Downlands Community School in Hassocks is rated strong for achievement, teaching, leadership and personal development. The grades, results and open days.
Downlands Community School in Hassocks has been judged a strong standard in four of the six areas Ofsted now grades. It met the safeguarding standards in full.
Strong is the second-highest of Ofsted’s five grades. The school was rated strong for achievement, for curriculum and teaching, for leadership and governance, and for personal development and wellbeing. It was rated at the expected standard, the middle grade, for attendance and behaviour and for inclusion. No area was graded as needing attention.
Inspectors visited on 7 July 2026. The report was published on 9 September and is listed on Ofsted’s page for the school.
The quick answer
| Area | Grade |
|---|---|
| Achievement | Strong standard |
| Curriculum and teaching | Strong standard |
| Leadership and governance | Strong standard |
| Personal development and wellbeing | Strong standard |
| Attendance and behaviour | Expected standard |
| Inclusion | Expected standard |
| Safeguarding | Met |
Ofsted’s grades, from top to bottom, are exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention and urgent improvement. Downlands is an 11 to 16 comprehensive on Dale Avenue with 1,250 pupils, slightly over its capacity of 1,200.
What the inspectors found
On results, the report is direct. “At key stage 4, their performance in examinations is well above the national average,” it says. That includes English and maths.
The figures in the report back that up. In 2024/25, 66.2% of Downlands pupils got a grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE. The national average was 45.4%. The school has been above the national figure in each of the last three years.
Inspectors singled out reading. “Leaders’ relentless focus on reading has a clear impact,” the report says, and older pupils “consider themselves to be lifelong readers”.
They also noted the range of activities on offer. All Year 7 pupils do forest school and a residential trip to help them settle. Clubs include competitive handball, rugby and the school orchestra. The report also mentions a cultural exchange with a school in Indonesia.
The figure that changed most
The biggest shift is in how the school’s disadvantaged pupils do. These are pupils who have had free school meals at some point in the last six years, or who are looked after.
| Year | Downlands disadvantaged pupils, grade 5+ in English and maths | Disadvantaged pupils nationally |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 20.0% | 25.2% |
| 2023/24 | 35.0% | 25.8% |
| 2024/25 | 47.1% | 25.8% |
Three years ago the school’s disadvantaged pupils were below the national figure for similar pupils. Now they are well above it. The gap between them and all other pupils nationally has narrowed from 32.4 percentage points to 6.1.
The written report says the same thing: “Disadvantaged pupils achieve significantly better than their peers nationally.”
A note on scale. Only 8.32% of Downlands pupils have been eligible for free school meals, against a national average of 28.9%, so these percentages describe a fairly small group. The share of pupils on special educational needs support is high, at 20.64% against 13.4% nationally.
What the school still has to do
Ofsted set two next steps:
- keep embedding the work that is improving attendance, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those who are persistently absent
- strengthen the systems used to spot the needs of the most vulnerable pupils, so that all of them achieve consistently well
On attendance, the report says the school’s systems “are not yet fully embedded”. A small number of pupils, including some who are disadvantaged, do not yet attend often enough.
The report also records that the school uses 11 alternative provisions, 8 of them unregistered. Inspectors said placements are chosen carefully to suit each pupil.
How this compares with last time
Downlands was last inspected in October 2022, under the old system of single-word grades. It was rated good in every category. Before that it had been rated outstanding.
The two reports cannot be compared grade for grade. Ofsted replaced the single overall judgement with report cards graded area by area, and this is the school’s first report under the new system.
What it means for you
If your child starts secondary school in September 2027, this report lands in the middle of the decision.
- Applications close at 11.59pm on Saturday 31 October 2026. West Sussex County Council’s key dates page has the timetable. Offers go out on Monday 1 March 2027.
- Downlands runs morning tours for two weeks from Monday 5 October. Book by calling reception on 01273 845892 from Friday 2 October, according to the school’s open evening page. The school’s SENDCo or deputy SENDCo will run tours for families of children with special educational needs over the same fortnight.
- The open evening itself was on 1 October, so the tours are now the way to see the school.
- Read the full report before you visit. It is short, plain and specific, and the “facts and figures” section at the end has the exam data for the last three years.
The school publishes the report on its own letters to parents page. Term dates for Downlands and the district’s other secondaries are on our Mid Sussex school term dates page.
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