Hawthorns Primary School Review 2026: Small West Sussex primary with improving systems and a strong reading focus

For a primary school, parents often want one simple thing: a reliable sense of how well pupils leave in Year 6 prepared for secondary school. Publicly available headline outcomes can be limited or hard to interpret without context, so the most useful signals here come from two places: the quality of the taught curriculum, and evidence of consistency in day to day teaching.

The published inspection findings from the last graded visit on this site judged the quality of education as Requires Improvement while also making an important point about direction of travel. Leaders had developed the curriculum across subjects, and each subject was planned with clearer sequencing of what pupils should learn and when, so that knowledge built as pupils moved through the school. Early years provision was judged Good, with children described as getting off to a strong start.

The gap, and the reason the overall outcome remained Requires Improvement, was consistency. Subject leadership “across the school” was not yet even, and teaching did not always translate the planned curriculum into lessons that met the needs of all pupils. Where teaching was not well tailored, distraction rose and behaviour dipped, which is a very typical primary pattern: learning slips first, then behaviour follows.

A subsequent monitoring inspection stated that the school continued to require improvement, but it also described progress, especially around strengthening subject leadership and staff expertise beyond English and mathematics. That is a meaningful development, because improvement in primary settings often depends on whether subject leaders can support colleagues with practical planning, modelling, and feedback, not simply producing documents.

The most concrete academic “tell” in the publicly available material is reading. The inspection report described reading as a priority with a structured phonics programme, decodable books matched to taught sounds, and additional sessions for pupils who were not keeping up. The intent is clear: early reading should be systematic and responsive, with fast identification of pupils who need extra practice.

Teaching at Hawthorns is framed around building secure foundations, then using subject leadership to drive consistent practice across classes. Where that has been applied well, the evidence points to clearer curriculum sequencing and more coherent delivery across subjects.

Reading and early literacy

Reading is the anchor. The inspection report described a “well planned phonics programme” with close book matching, which is a specific and effective practice in early reading. The implication for parents is straightforward: children who grasp the code early tend to access the wider curriculum more confidently by the time they reach Key Stage 2.

There are also signs that the school has kept reading prominent in its internal narrative since that inspection. The English page directs parents to reading intent and references Renaissance, which suggests structured approaches to reading practice and progression. It is not a guarantee of impact on its own, but it shows reading is treated as a whole school priority rather than a classroom by classroom choice.

Mathematics

Mathematics is taught through a named programme, Maths No Problem, which is associated with a mastery style approach, building conceptual understanding through structure and variation rather than rushing to procedures. For families, the key implication is that lessons can feel slower at first but often build stronger number sense over time, particularly for pupils who benefit from concrete and pictorial representations before abstract methods.

Curriculum breadth and enrichment

Hawthorns uses occasional themed weeks that take children “off timetable” to explore a focus area in more depth. The strength of this approach, when done well, is motivation and memorable learning. The risk is that it only works if the underlying curriculum is sequenced and secure, otherwise it can become a fun detour rather than cumulative learning. The fact that themed weeks are positioned as deep exploration suggests the intention is the former.

Inclusion and additional needs

Provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is described as a developing strength. In the graded inspection report, SEND identification and leadership was presented as effective, with parents recognising the support. The remaining challenge was that classroom teaching was not always adapted well enough in every lesson, which is a common fault line: good identification and plans, but variable implementation.

As a West Sussex primary, transition is shaped by the county’s secondary admissions system and the mix of local schools available to families in Worthing and surrounding areas. For many families in Durrington, Durrington High School is one of the key local non selective secondary options in the area.

Practically, the best preparation for Year 7 tends to come from two things: independent learning habits and secure literacy. The reading focus described in the inspection findings, alongside a clearer planned curriculum, points towards the school trying to strengthen exactly those foundations so pupils leave with the confidence to handle larger classes and higher organisational demands.

For parents who want to plan early, West Sussex publishes a structured timeline for primary admissions, and the same council resources explain how catchment, preferences, and late applications are handled. These are worth reading well before Year 6, because secondary decisions often involve transport considerations and sibling planning across multiple years.

Reception admissions are managed through West Sussex’s coordinated process, not directly by the school. The school’s own admissions page is explicit about this and encourages visits by appointment for families considering a place.

Demand is a material factor. In the most recent admissions results available for Reception entry, there were 56 applications for 19 offers, which equates to 2.95 applications per offer, and the school is recorded as oversubscribed. That combination usually means parents should approach choices strategically, including realistic fallbacks, rather than assuming a place will be available if it is the nearest option in their mind.

Unlike some primaries, there is no published “furthest distance at which a place was offered” figure available in the current admissions results for this school, so the most sensible approach is to treat distance as important but unknown in its practical cut off. This is where FindMySchool’s Map Search is useful: it lets families sanity check travel distance and identify realistic alternatives within a workable radius before making irreversible housing or childcare decisions.

For in year entry, West Sussex manages applications, with the school noting that class organisation is planned around groups up to 30 pupils and that waiting lists may apply if a year group is full.

Pastoral care is a clear positive. The inspection report described a high level of care across the school, staff who know pupils and families well, and safeguarding systems that enable concerns to be escalated quickly to the designated safeguarding lead with appropriate action.

That said, wellbeing at primary age is closely tied to predictable classrooms. The same report indicated that behaviour and concentration were not consistently strong in Key Stage 2 at the time, and that inconsistency could disrupt learning. In a small school, that can be felt sharply by families because individual cohort dynamics have a larger impact on day to day atmosphere.

Since then, the monitoring inspection described deliberate work on raising expectations and improving pupils’ self regulation, alongside a reported reduction in poor behaviour incidents. If your child thrives on clear boundaries and consistent adult practice, this trajectory matters, and it is worth asking how the behaviour approach is taught to new staff and reinforced across classes.

Extracurricular life at Hawthorns is best understood as two layers: structured enrichment clubs that run in defined blocks, and broader themed curriculum activity that changes the rhythm of the week.

The 2021 inspection report referenced clubs including football, gymnastics, dance, drama, cooking, and a “green fingers” style club linked to improving the school grounds. That mix is a useful indicator for parents because it shows the school is not treating enrichment as an optional extra for a small group, it is something pupils talk about and look forward to.

More recent school communications provide even more specificity. The Autumn 2025 clubs offer included Dodgeball, Badminton, Football for Key Stage 2, a Craft and Colour club positioned as a calm space, Cookery Club in short blocks, Choir with rehearsals linked to a Christmas Concert at Arundel Cathedral, Nature Nuts for outdoor activities such as gardening and nature art, plus a School Newspaper Club focused on journalism and interviews. There is also an external dance club running after school.

The implication is that children who like hands on activities, performance, or structured sport will find defined routes to join in, even in a relatively small setting. It also gives a clearer picture of how the school uses enrichment to build wider skills, such as teamwork, confidence speaking to others, and creative output that can be shared with the school community.

The compulsory school day runs 8.45am to 3.00pm, totalling 31.25 hours per week. Gates and classroom doors open from 8.35am, and parents are expected to hand over outside to keep internal spaces manageable at peak times.

For wraparound, there is an early morning drop off club from 8.00am to 8.35am on school days. Beyond that, the school publishes termly enrichment clubs that typically run 3.00pm to 4.00pm on weekdays (depending on the club). Information about a full after school childcare offer is not clearly published in the same place, so families who need care beyond 4.00pm should ask directly what is currently available and how places are allocated.

On travel, the school sits in Durrington, Worthing. For rail, many families in the wider area use Durrington on Sea and Worthing stations, depending on route and start point.

• Requires Improvement baseline. The most recent graded inspection outcome for this site was Requires Improvement, with clear strengths in early years and personal development, and clear work still needed on consistency of teaching and learning.

• Key Stage 2 consistency. External findings described variable concentration and behaviour among some older pupils at the time, and improvement work has focused on raising consistency and self regulation. This may matter most for children who need predictable routines to stay engaged.

• Oversubscription pressure. Reception entry is recorded as oversubscribed in the available admissions results, with 2.95 applications per offer in the most recent cycle shown. Families should make realistic backup choices.

• Academy conversion creates change. Joining a trust can bring better support and faster improvement, but it can also mean changes to policies and practice over time. It is sensible to ask which routines have changed since the 2024 conversion and what is planned next.

Hawthorns Primary School suits families who want a smaller setting with an explicit focus on safety, reading, and improving consistency across classrooms. The school has a clear improvement narrative, strengthened by trust membership, and the extracurricular programme has enough structure and variety to give children genuine routes to belong.

Best suited to pupils who respond well to clear routines and who will benefit from systematic early reading and a mastery style approach in maths. The main challenge for many families is likely to be admission competition rather than day to day fit.