Hove Park School and Sixth Form Centre Review 2026: Two-Campus Secondary with a Strong “Every Child Should” Entitlement

A large, mixed community secondary serving Brighton and Hove, Hove Park operates across two sites, with Years 7, 8, 12 and 13 based on the Valley campus and Years 9 to 11 on the Nevill campus. This split shapes daily life in a practical way, including transition points at the end of Year 8 and the start of GCSE courses in Year 9.

Leadership is stable, with Jim Roberts named as head teacher and recorded as appointed on 24 April 2017.

The most recent Ofsted inspection was carried out on 8 and 9 December 2021, and the published report (04 February 2022) confirmed the school continues to be Good.

For families weighing fit, the school’s distinctive feature is how seriously it takes “whole-school experiences” as an entitlement, not a bonus, through its Every Child Should badges and structured enrichment.

A clear theme in Hove Park’s public narrative is belonging, and it shows up in how the school frames participation. The Every Child Should programme is positioned as a set of shared experiences that pupils should collect by the end of Year 8, before moving from the Valley campus to GCSE study on the Nevill campus. The badges themselves point to a balance between personal development and practical confidence: community contribution, committing to a club, taking on a new challenge, representing house or school, and spending a night under the stars.

That “night under the stars” is not just a slogan. The Year 7 Big Camp is described as an event designed to bring Year 7 together while delivering that camping experience as part of the entitlement. This matters for families who want a school that actively builds social bonds during the first secondary year, especially for pupils arriving from different primaries across Brighton and Hove.

The Ofsted report provides a useful anchor for tone without reducing the review to inspection phrasing. Pupils are described as feeling safe, behaviour is characterised as calm and orderly, and there is explicit reference to the school taking bullying and inappropriate behaviour seriously. The same report highlights that pupils discuss equality themes with confidence, suggesting that the personal, social and health education offer is intended to be direct rather than tokenistic.

Leadership structure is clearly communicated on the school website, with deputy head teachers named alongside the head teacher, which usually indicates a distributed leadership model rather than a single figurehead approach.

Performance data presents a mixed picture across GCSE and A-level measures, with GCSE outcomes sitting closer to the England midpoint and A-level measures sitting lower in the England distribution in the latest available dataset.

GCSE (Key Stage 4)

• Ranked 2,045th in England and 4th in Hove for GCSE outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This equates to performance in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

• Attainment 8 is 43.3.

• Progress 8 is -0.13, indicating that, on average, progress is slightly below the national benchmark from pupils’ starting points.

• EBacc average point score is 4.05.

• 18.9% of pupils achieved grades 5 or above across the EBacc components.

This profile suggests a school where attainment is broadly mid-range by England standards, with a clear improvement opportunity around progress and around raising outcomes for pupils on the margins of stronger grades. (The Ofsted report’s emphasis on consistency of curriculum implementation aligns with that interpretation.)

A-level (Key Stage 5)

• Ranked 2,485th in England and 4th in Hove for A-level outcomes (FindMySchool ranking based on official data). This sits in the lower-performing band nationally (bottom 40%).

• In the latest available A-level grade profile, 17.65% of grades were B, and 17.65% were A* to B, compared with England averages of 47.2% achieving A* to B.

A-level outcomes are clearly below England averages. However, families should read this alongside the school’s recent sixth form direction of travel, because local authority papers set out that the governing body intended to suspend new Year 12 admissions from September 2023, keep provision closed in 2024/25 and 2025/26, and review admissions again for September 2026. In other words, the sixth form story is not a straightforward “business as usual” pipeline.

Parents comparing options locally can use the FindMySchool Local Hub pages to view GCSE and A-level outcomes side-by-side with nearby schools, rather than relying on headline impressions.

Curriculum intent is clearly described as structured and progressive, with the Ofsted report outlining an ambitious curriculum sequence from Year 7 through to Year 13, with flexibility in option choices and a drive to maintain breadth.

A practical indicator of language specialism is the continued visibility of the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP), referenced both in curriculum framing and in the weekly enrichment and extra-curricular offer (including MEP speaking and reading sessions for multiple year groups). For a pupil who enjoys languages, this is meaningful because it signals additional time allocation and structured stretch beyond standard timetables.

Hove Park also publishes a dedicated STEM page that frames provision beyond lessons: partnerships (including an Ogden Trust link), city-wide programming (Reach for the Stars), and workshops and visits connected with the University of Sussex. The implication for parents is that STEM engagement is positioned as an access issue, not just a pathway for the highest prior attainers.

Technology and digital learning are presented as a strategic priority through the Digital Leaders programme, with the school explicitly linking technology use to learning design and pupil development. This is a better sign than generic “we use devices” language, because it indicates staff development and pupil leadership structures around digital habits.

For most families, “next steps” means two things here: what happens after Year 11, and what the school’s post-16 picture looks like in practice.

After Year 11

The Ofsted report states that at the end of Year 11 about half of pupils leave to continue their studies at a local sixth form, with others progressing to further education and apprenticeships. This is a useful reality check: post-16 progression is not presented as a single internal route for most students, and families should assume that external college and sixth form options are a normal part of the local pattern.

Leaver destinations (latest available cohort)

For the 2023/24 leaver cohort (cohort size 31), 10% progressed to university, 6% to further education, and 23% entered employment; apprenticeships are recorded as 0%.

These percentages do not describe every pathway (and will not sum to 100%), but they do indicate that a meaningful share of leavers are moving directly into work, and that a university route is not the dominant outcome in this cohort.

Sixth form status and what it means

Local authority decision records from November 2022 note an intention to pause Year 12 admissions from September 2023 and keep the sixth form closed through 2025/26, with a review for admissions from September 2026.

The practical implication is that families considering Year 12 entry should treat arrangements as changeable and confirm the school’s latest position for 2026 entry. Families considering Year 7 entry can take a more standard view: many students progress to external post-16 routes locally, and the school’s careers and guidance structures matter as much as internal sixth form availability.

Hove Park is a community school and applications for Year 7 places are made through Brighton and Hove City Council rather than directly to the school, with the school website clearly directing families to the local authority route and to in-year processes for non-standard entry.

Demand indicators in the latest available admissions dataset show 621 applications for 162 offers, which equates to 3.83 applications per place, and the school is classified as oversubscribed.

In practice, this means families should assume competition and avoid treating Hove Park as a “safe option” unless your address history and local authority criteria genuinely support it.

For September 2026 entry to Year 7, the secondary application deadline is 31 October 2025. Offers are issued on the national offer day. For 2026 entry, 1 March falls on a weekend, so the offer day is the next working day, 02 March 2026.

Open events and transition activities can be a helpful proxy for how the school manages the Year 6 to Year 7 step. Hove Park publishes a pattern of transition engagement that includes information evenings, transition sessions, a citywide transition day, and a summer school window. Exact dates vary each year, so families should treat published dates as cohort-specific and use the school calendar for the latest schedule.

Parents who are serious about this option should use FindMySchoolMap Search to check precise distance and to model how different address scenarios perform against local authority criteria, especially in an oversubscribed environment.

Pastoral and wellbeing support is consistently foregrounded across both the school’s own pages and external evidence.

The Digital Leaders page links the school’s work on emotional wellbeing and mental health to recognition at local and national level. While that is a broad claim, the stronger indicator is the framing: wellbeing is treated as an operational priority rather than an afterthought.

The most concrete, school-specific wellbeing and inclusion feature is the Cullum Centre, an on-site resourced provision designed to support students on the autism spectrum in a mainstream setting. It is described as embedded in the wider school, using National Autistic Society trained staff, small group learning, social skills interventions, therapy sessions and bespoke programmes. The provision is also explicit about capacity: Brighton and Hove has commissioned 22 placements in Years 7 to 11 and 8 placements in Year 12 (Cullum 6), with places allocated via a multi-professional local authority process for students with an Education, Health and Care Plan and autism as the primary diagnosis.

That matters for parents in two different ways:

1. For autistic students with an EHCP, the Cullum Centre is a defined pathway with a clearer access route than many mainstream “SEN offers”.

2. For mainstream families, the existence of a resourced provision can signal staff confidence, training depth, and a culture that is accustomed to differentiated need rather than surprised by it.

Hove Park publishes a detailed extra-curricular schedule, and the detail is the point. Rather than a generic list, it names clubs, year ranges, times, and even locations across both campuses.

A few examples illustrate the breadth and the school’s approach to access:

• Eco-Club (Sustainability) runs across Key Stage 4, creating an option for students who want practical, values-driven activity rather than sport or performance.

• Warhammer for Years 7 and 8 is a small but telling inclusion, because it provides a structured social space for students who connect through strategy games and modelling rather than team sports.

• Table Tennis with Brighton Table Tennis Club and Beach Volleyball show external links and non-standard sports that can broaden participation beyond the usual football-netball pattern.

• Subject support and stretch sits alongside clubs, such as Computing Drop-in Support, KS4 STEM club, and targeted intervention sessions in English, sciences, and languages.

• Music and creative options include Nevill Music club, Guitar Club, Photography Club, and recurring Art club sessions across both campuses.

The Every Child Should structure ties this together for Key Stage 3. It sets a clear expectation that pupils should commit, represent, contribute, and try unfamiliar experiences, rather than leaving “enrichment” to the already confident.

The published school day runs from 08:30 (tutorial) to 15:00 (end of lesson 4), with a morning break and afternoon break built into the timetable.

After-school activities typically start at 15:00 and many run until 16:00 or 16:30, with some sports sessions extending to 17:00 depending on the day and activity.

Two sites add a practical dimension for families. Years 7 and 8 are anchored on the Valley campus, while GCSE years are based on the Nevill campus, so travel routines can change at the Year 8 to Year 9 step.

• Competition for places. The latest available admissions dataset shows 621 applications for 162 offers, which points to demand outstripping supply. Families should treat entry as competitive and plan alternatives.

• Consistency of implementation. The most recent inspection highlighted variability in how consistently the curriculum is implemented across subjects, with the implication that outcomes are not yet as strong as they could be in every area.

• Outcomes gaps. The same report indicates that gaps in attainment, attendance and engagement remain for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, despite improvement over time. Families should explore how support is delivered in practice for pupils who may need sustained scaffolding.

• Sixth form uncertainty. Local authority records set out an intention to pause Year 12 admissions from September 2023 and review for September 2026. Families planning post-16 at Hove Park should confirm the current position early, rather than assuming a standard sixth form pathway.

Hove Park School and Sixth Form Centre is a sizeable community secondary with a clear ethos of entitlement, built around the idea that pupils should leave with a set of shared experiences, not just a set of grades. Its best feature is the way enrichment is structured, visible, and planned, from Every Child Should badges through to a detailed clubs timetable and practical, confidence-building events like Year 7 Big Camp.

This school suits families who want a mainstream setting with a broad extra-curricular menu, clear routines, and defined inclusion pathways such as the Cullum Centre for autistic students with EHCPs. The main challenge is admission demand, and, for post-16 planners, the need to check how sixth form arrangements evolve for 2026 entry.