Bohunt's first Year 11 cohort got one grade in four at 7 to 9, and Tanbridge beat the county on English and maths. Five of eight schools published nothing.

Three of the eight schools that award GCSEs in the Horsham district published a headline figure when results came out on Thursday 20 August. Five published nothing you can compare with anything, and West Sussex County Council published no figures at all.

The three that did give numbers gave three different numbers, measured three different ways. That is normal on results day, and it is the reason a straight league table of Horsham schools cannot honestly be built. What follows is what each school actually said, and what the national statistics let you set it against.

Bar chart of the share of GCSE entries at grade 7 and above in 2026: Christ's Hospital over 50 per cent, Farlington School 51 per cent, the England independent-school benchmark 47.1 per cent, Bohunt Horsham about 25 per cent, and the South East benchmark for 16-year-olds 25.8 per cent. A note records that Millais, Tanbridge House, The Forest School, The Weald and Steyning Grammar published no grade 7 and above share.
Graphic by Horsham Daily.
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Bohunt Horsham: the first cohort the school has ever taken through

The story of the day in Horsham is Bohunt, because this was its first-ever Year 11 cohort. The school says one in four of all grades its students achieved was a 7, 8 or 9, and that the vast majority secured passes in both English and maths (Bohunt Horsham).

That cohort had an unusual run at it. The school notes that:

  • they started Year 7 during the pandemic, with bubbles, masking and testing
  • they were the last group to begin secondary school in the temporary building on Hurst Road, before the permanent school on the Mowbray development was finished
  • at least a third of the year group joined in-year from other schools

Headteacher Georgette Ayling said the school was “extremely proud of our founding students and their hugely deserved achievements”, adding that they had been “establishing our school’s culture and leading the way for the year groups that followed” (Bohunt Horsham).

One in four grades at 7 to 9 sits almost exactly on the South East average. Ofqual’s figures for 16-year-olds across the region put 25.8% of results at grade 7 and above this summer. Nationally, free schools of the kind Bohunt is came in at 21.7% (Ofqual, tables 19b and 20).

Tanbridge House: the one figure you can benchmark properly

Tanbridge House School published a different measure, and a more useful one. It says over 80% of its students secured a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, alongside the highest number of grade 9s in the school’s history (Tanbridge House School).

That is the per-pupil “basics” measure the Department for Education publishes for every council area, so it can be set against a real comparator. The most recent official figures, for 2024/25, are:

  • West Sussex: 67.4%
  • South East: 66.9%
  • England: 64.8%

Tanbridge’s 80% is therefore well clear of its county, though with one caveat that matters: the DfE’s own figures for this summer do not exist yet. The next edition of Key Stage 4 performance is due in October 2026, so a 2026 school figure can only be set against a 2025 national one (DfE Key Stage 4 performance statistics).

Headteacher Mark Sheridan singled out how the year group behaved rather than what it scored, saying the students’ results reflected “countless hours of hard work and perseverance, but also the way they have looked out for and supported each other”.

There is a quiet detail in the West Sussex numbers worth noticing. The county has edged up for two years, from 66.9% to 67.3% to 67.4%, while England slipped from 65.1% to 64.8% and the South East fell from 67.5% to 66.9%. West Sussex has pulled ahead of its own region while barely moving.

The two independent schools

Christ’s Hospital, the boarding school south of Horsham, reported across more than 1,200 entries: more than a third of grades at 9 or 8, over half at 9 to 7, and almost three-quarters at 9 to 6 or above. Two in every five students achieved at least seven grades at 7 or above, and nine students got the top grade in every subject they took (Christ’s Hospital).

Farlington School at Broadbridge Heath published the most precise set of numbers in the district: 31% of grades at 9 to 8, 51% at 9 to 7 and 94% at 9 to 4. It also published a value-added score of +0.9, meaning students beat their baseline expectations by close to a full grade per entry, with 56% of all grades at least one grade above baseline (Farlington School).

Headmaster James Passam made the point that gives that figure its weight: Farlington is “an academically non-selective school”. Against the national independent-sector benchmark of 47.1% of grades at 7 and above, both schools are ahead. Grammar schools nationally reached 63.2%.

Five schools, no figures

The rest of the district published nothing comparable, and in most cases nothing at all.

  • Steyning Grammar School issued a full press release but no percentages of any kind. It named individual students and their subjects, and said students did particularly well in English Literature, Art and Design, Photography and Biology (Steyning Grammar School).
  • The Weald School in Billingshurst published nothing for 2026. Its results page still carries 2025, and the most recent item in its news list is last year’s A-level statement (The Weald School).
  • The Forest School in Horsham published nothing. Its exam results page links only to the 2024/25 performance tables (The Forest School).
  • Millais School published nothing. Its news feed returns no stories at all (Millais School).
  • West Sussex County Council issued a results-day statement with no figures in it. Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning Sam Raby congratulated students and pointed them at careers advice, and the release directed readers to Ofqual for a regional breakdown (West Sussex County Council).

Silence is not a verdict on results. Schools decide their own publication policy, and several of these are non-selective 11 to 16 schools with no obvious reason to court comparison. But it does mean that for most Horsham families, the school-level picture this week is the one their own child brought home.

Why the numbers cannot be lined up

Three warnings before anyone builds a table out of the figures above.

  • The bases differ. Bohunt’s quarter is a share of grades. Tanbridge’s 80% is a share of pupils, and needs a grade 4 in English and maths together. Farlington’s 51% is a share of grades. They are not the same thing.
  • There is no local-authority or district GCSE figure. Ofqual’s data tables go down to region and centre type, not to West Sussex or Horsham. Its interactive map assigns results by the exam centre’s postcode, and this district contains a large boarding school, so any district ranking taken from it would partly describe children who do not live here.
  • Independent and state results are not a fair fight. Nationally, 88.4% of independent-school grades were at 4 and above against 66.1% across all state-funded schools. That gap is about intake as much as teaching.

What it means for you

If a grade looks wrong, there are two routes, and both go through the school’s exams officer, not the family.

  • A clerical re-check confirms the marks were added and recorded correctly. Deadline 24 September 2026, turned round within 10 calendar days.
  • A review of marking puts the paper in front of a senior examiner. Deadline 24 September 2026, turned round within 20 calendar days.

Two things families regularly get wrong. The priority review service that closed on 20 August did not cover GCSE; it was for A level, T Levels and Level 3 vocational qualifications only. And there is no grade protection: a reviewed grade can go down as well as up (JCQ post-results services).

If English or maths did not reach a grade 4, resits run in November and entries go through a school or college. If the next step is unclear, West Sussex County Council’s careers team gives free advice to 16 to 24-year-olds in the county who are not in education, employment or training, on 033 022 22700 or at careersadvice@westsussex.gov.uk.

Locally, most Horsham students moving on at 16 go to The College of Richard Collyer on Hurst Road, which describes itself as the top state provider of A levels in West Sussex (Collyer’s).

Sources

We do not name students. The schools’ own statements name individual pupils and their grades; those are the schools’ publications to make, not ours.