Ark Alexandra Academy
Academy sponsor led · 1,315 pupils
86% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.6
Academy converter
Rye College
- Pupils on roll
- 645of 750 places
- Free school meals
- 37.1%
- Year 11 cohort 2025
- 103
- Ofsted
- Good, 17 January 2023Read the Ofsted report
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: Rye College (URN 138624, until 1 November 2018).
What the data says
Rye College has no sixth form. Of the 116 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 23% moved to a sixth form college, 53% to a further education college and 2% started an apprenticeship.
16% 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 36.8 against 46.1 across England and 43.1 in East Sussex, with 35% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Photography is unusually popular at GCSE: 41% of the year group took it, against 6% of pupils 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 | Rye College | East Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 116 | 5,083 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 83% | 90% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 78% | 85% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 1% | 14% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 23% | 24% | 13% |
| — further education college | 53% | 44% | 37% |
| — other education | 0% | 3% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 16% | 7% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 2% | 3% | 3% |
GCSE results 2025
| Measure | Rye College | East Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 36.8 | 43.1 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 35% | 42% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 52% | 63% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 21% | 37% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 3.13 | 3.80 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 31% | 26% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 26.3 | 30.3 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 41.5 | 47.6 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 7% | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Literature | 102 | 99% | 86% | 11% | 21% | 60% |
| English Language | 102 | 99% | 89% | 11% | 20% | 61% |
| Mathematics | 102 | 99% | 88% | 11% | 22% | 58% |
| Combined Science | 80 | 78% | 65% | 5% | 9% | 34% |
| History | 66 | 64% | 41% | 11% | 26% | 36% |
| Geography | 47 | 46% | 41% | 9% | 25% | 28% |
| Art and Design | 46 | 45% | 7% | 11% | 24% | 37% |
| Photography | 42 | 41% | 6% | 10% | 19% | 45% |
| French | 22 | 21% | 18% | 18% | 29% | 45% |
| Biology | 20 | 19% | 23% | 25% | 45% | 70% |
| Physics | 20 | 19% | 23% | 15% | 46% | 65% |
| Chemistry | 20 | 19% | 23% | 20% | 47% | 60% |
| Drama | 13 | 13% | 7% | 0% | 27% | 0% |
| Dance | 11 | 11% | 1% | 9% | 27% | 36% |
| Spanish | 1 | 1% | 19% | — | 27% | — |
Technical awards and other Key Stage 4 qualifications
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering Studies | 45 | — | — |
| Sports / Movement Science | 38 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 15 | — | — |
Where Rye College is
Other secondary schools in East Sussex are shown for comparison; darker blue means more Year 11 leavers stayed in education. The last distance at which this school offered places is not yet on file — it comes from East Sussex’s allocation statistics.
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.