Ark Alexandra Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,315 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.6
Academy special converter
St Mary's School
- Pupils on roll
- 78of 81 places
- Free school meals
- 55.1%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 24
- Ofsted
- School remains Good, 28 September 2023Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: St Mary's School (URN 114681, until 1 July 2015).
What the data says
Of the 13 pupils who finished Year 11 at St Mary's School in 2023, none moved to a sixth form college, 31% to a further education college and none started an apprenticeship.
46% of leavers were not in sustained education, employment or training six months on, compared with 6% nationally.
GCSE results in 2025 were well below the national picture: Attainment 8 of 6.8 against 46.1 across England and 43.1 in East Sussex, with 0% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Almost nobody goes straight into an apprenticeship or a job: none took an apprenticeship and none went into work, against 3% and 3% across England.
Where pupils went after Year 11
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in East Sussex and England.
School sixth formSixth form collegeFurther education collegeOther educationApprenticeshipEmploymentNo sustained destination
| Measure | St Mary's School | East Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 13 | 5,083 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 31% | 90% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 31% | 85% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 0% | 14% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 0% | 24% | 13% |
| — further education college | 31% | 44% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 3% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 2% | 3% |
| Employment | 0% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 46% | 7% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 23% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | St Mary's School | East Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 6.8 | 43.1 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 0% | 42% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 4% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 0% | 37% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 0.22 | 3.80 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 63% | 26% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 6.2 | 30.3 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 7.7 | 47.6 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 0% | 7% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Subjects taken at GCSE
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 23 | 96% | 88% | 0% | 22% | 9% |
| English Language | 20 | 83% | 89% | 0% | 20% | 20% |
| Biology | 14 | 58% | 23% | 0% | 45% | 0% |
| Art and Design | 4 | 17% | 7% | — | 24% | — |
| Photography | 1 | 4% | 6% | — | 19% | — |
| Statistics | 1 | 4% | 5% | — | 20% | — |
Other secondary schools in East Sussex
Beacon Academy
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,642 pupils
88% stayed in education · Attainment 8 50.2
Bexhill High Academy
Academy converter · 1,441 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 41.7
Chailey School
Community school · 862 pupils
84% stayed in education · Attainment 8 49.3
Claverham Community College
Community school · 1,147 pupils
92% stayed in education · Attainment 8 50.3
Gildredge House
Free schools · 1,169 pupils
90% stayed in education · Attainment 8 46.7
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.