St Andrew's CofE High School Review 2026, faith-led values with a clear improvement story

There is a clear sense of direction here, grounded in Christian values and shaped by a period of rapid change. The school moved to co-education from September 2021 and has had sustained leadership under Ms Mia Lowney, who took up post in January 2021.

St Andrew’s sits in West Worthing and serves families looking for a Church of England secondary with an explicitly values-based culture. Respect, responsibility and integrity are not treated as poster slogans, they are used as organising principles for behaviour, relationships and personal development, and they show up in how students talk about school life.

The most recent graded Ofsted inspection (19 and 20 April 2023) judged the school Good across overall effectiveness and all key areas, with safeguarding confirmed as effective.

The school is open about its Christian foundations and makes a consistent effort to keep that welcome accessible to families of different faith backgrounds, or no faith. Daily routines include reflection during morning tutor time, with scripture explored respectfully and space for personal reflection. A weekly worship programme brings year groups together for collective worship twice a week, alongside tutor-based gatherings.

Pastoral structures are designed to be highly visible. Heads of Year are non-teaching, which signals that student support is not a spare-capacity add-on. Each year group has a named Head of Year supported by tutor teams who see students daily, so issues are more likely to be spotted early rather than left to escalate.

The house system is positioned as a belonging mechanism and a participation engine, rather than a decorative tradition. House events and competitions are framed around contribution and identity, giving quieter students structured ways to participate and be recognised, not only the most outgoing or sporty.

A useful context point for families is the school’s recent trajectory. External review language describes an inclusive culture with calm social times and rising expectations, which matters because it suggests the school has moved beyond “stabilise first, improve later” and is now working on the finer detail of learning, literacy support and attendance.

This is an 11 to 16 secondary, so the headline data is GCSE-focused. In the FindMySchool GCSE outcomes ranking (based on official data), the school is ranked 2,177th in England and 6th in Worthing. This reflects solid performance, in line with the middle 35% of schools in England (25th to 60th percentile).

On published outcomes indicators, the school’s Attainment 8 score is 46.3 and Progress 8 is 0.18, which indicates students make above-average progress from their starting points. EBacc-related measures are a more challenging area, with an EBacc average point score of 3.92 and 11.5% achieving grades 5 or above in the EBacc measure.

The practical implication for parents is straightforward. If you want a school where progress is positive and expectations are rising, the data supports that. If you are particularly focused on a broad EBacc pathway, it is worth asking how the school is increasing participation in modern foreign languages and how option guidance is structured at Key Stage 4, because EBacc uptake has been identified as an area that needs strengthening.

For parents comparing local secondaries, the FindMySchool Local Hub and Comparison Tool can help you see how this profile sits alongside other Worthing schools, without relying on anecdotal impressions.

The curriculum narrative is explicit about purpose. The stated intent is to “enable our community to live life wisely, with dignity and faith, experiencing life in all its fullness”, with a parallel emphasis on knowledge and on building the personal values needed for adulthood.

In practice, the most informative detail from the latest inspection evidence is the work on sequencing and clarity of knowledge. Subject teams have identified what students should learn and the order in which they should learn it, which tends to show up in more coherent lesson design and fewer gaps when students move between topics.

Literacy is treated as a whole-school priority, with a stated focus on vocabulary and reading. The nuance is important. The evidence base indicates that weaker readers are identified quickly, but that a small number do not always receive precise enough teaching to build fluent reading. For families with a child who arrives at secondary still lacking reading confidence, this becomes a key question to probe at open events: what interventions exist, how progress is tracked, and how quickly students can move out of “catch-up” into independent reading.

SEND support is described as promptly identified and carefully adapted in classroom practice, with students producing work aligned to peers when adaptations are used well. That suggests a model focused on making mainstream lessons accessible, rather than moving students out of the core experience as the default.

Where Students Go Next

With an 11 to 16 age range, the main transition is post-16. The school’s curriculum and careers guidance are described as preparing pupils well for next steps, with a focus on high-quality careers guidance and advice about education and training routes.

Because this school does not have a sixth form, families should expect Year 11 guidance to be practical and outward-facing, including support with local sixth form and college applications, and clear signposting around technical routes and apprenticeships. For parents, the best way to judge this is to ask what the Year 10 and Year 11 careers programme looks like, how employer encounters are organised, and how students are supported to choose between academic and technical options.

St Andrew’s is a voluntary aided school and admissions are routed through West Sussex County Council for normal Year 7 entry. The school’s published admissions information directs families to follow the West Sussex application process.

For September 2026 entry, the West Sussex coordinated timeline is clearly set out. Applications opened on Monday 8 September 2025 and closed at 11:59pm on Friday 31 October 2025. Offer day for on-time online applicants is Monday 2 March 2026.

Demand is material. The latest available admissions demand data shows 580 applications for 177 offers, which equates to around 3.28 applications per place. That does not mean every family is competing on identical criteria, but it does mean you should treat entry as competitive and plan preferences realistically.

If you are considering a move, or you are just outside the likely allocation area, use FindMySchool Map Search to check how your home location may compare to recent allocation patterns. Even where criteria are clear, small changes in applicant distribution can shift outcomes year to year.

In-year admissions are handled differently. The school’s own admissions information indicates that applications are considered on receipt and a written response is typically provided within 10 school days during term time, with holiday applications handled at the start of the next term.

Pastoral care is positioned as a central feature rather than a supporting service. The school describes a warm culture, with a therapeutic and restorative approach to behaviour management and clear leadership structures through Heads of Year and tutors.

The most recent inspection evidence supports a calm learning environment, with raised expectations and learning rarely disrupted by low-level behaviour issues. Pupils’ trust that staff will listen and deal with bullying or harassment effectively is also highlighted, which is often a reliable proxy for how consistently systems are applied rather than merely how well they are written.

Attendance is a key operational focus. The picture is not that attendance is “fine”, it is that leaders are actively pushing improvement and that a small group of pupils do not attend regularly enough, which can undermine learning and relationships. Families who have had attendance difficulties previously should ask what early-stage support looks like, how home-school communication works, and how reintegration is handled after periods of absence.

The extracurricular offer is broad and, importantly, concrete. The school publishes a club timetable that includes Debate club, STA Sing club, Science club, Creative writing, Photography, Origami, Drama rehearsals, Climbing, Table tennis and a range of team sports. Music is visible through Orchestra, Choir, Band practice and Jazz.

These are not token options. The mix matters. Debate and creative writing provide academically oriented “identity clubs” for students who want structured, low-pressure platforms to build confidence. Music ensembles create routine and responsibility, with the added benefit of mixed-year social connection. Sport runs as both team and individual activity, so students who do not want the weekly intensity of competitive team fixtures still have options such as table tennis, badminton or fitness-related clubs.

The enrichment model also has a distinct structure. There is an “Enrichment Week” in July designed to widen access to trips and visits, with planning that includes a published five-year calendar of opportunities and a stated commitment that every student should have access to a meaningful activity across their time at the school. Year 10 work experience is built into this programme.

From an inclusivity perspective, there is additional evidence of a deliberate effort to recognise individual identity and build belonging across different groups. That is a relevant consideration for families who want a school that takes inclusion seriously as practice, not only as policy language.

The published school day begins with morning tutor time and assembly at 08:40 and runs through five lessons, ending at 15:00.

Clubs and enrichment operate around this structure. The published timetable shows both lunchtime and after-school options across year groups, with Tuesday reserved for staff training in the referenced schedule.

As a secondary school, wraparound care is not typically structured in the same way as primary breakfast and after-school provision. Where families require early supervision or late collection arrangements, it is sensible to check directly what is currently offered and which year groups can access supervised spaces before and after the formal day.

• Competitive entry. The latest available demand data indicates 580 applications for 177 offers, around 3.28 applications per place. For many families, the admissions process is the main hurdle rather than day-to-day experience once a place is secured.

• EBacc breadth and language take-up. Evidence points to low uptake of modern foreign languages at Key Stage 4 and a lower proportion achieving the EBacc measure. If a broad EBacc pathway is important to your family, ask how option guidance is changing and how languages are being encouraged and supported.

• Reading and attendance precision. The overall direction is positive, but the published improvement points include the need for more precise support for a small number of weaker readers and continued work to improve attendance for a small group. That may be manageable for many students, but it is worth understanding the practical interventions if your child is vulnerable in either area.

• Faith life is real. Collective worship, reflection and Christian framing are not optional extras. The school emphasises inclusion for all faith backgrounds, but families who prefer a fully secular setting should weigh whether a Church of England culture is the right fit.

St Andrew’s offers a values-led education with a clear improvement narrative and a settled leadership picture. It will suit families who want a Church of England secondary where inclusion is taken seriously, pastoral structures are visible, and students have a broad set of clubs that go beyond sport alone. Admission is the obstacle; the education is increasingly coherent. Families most likely to thrive here will be comfortable with an active Christian life in school routines and will take time to understand how literacy support and attendance systems work for students who need more structured help.