Colgate Primary School

About Colgate Primary School

Colgate Primary School sits within the West Sussex local authority, a mixed state primary for ages 4 to 11, and ranks 19th out of 35 primary schools in the Horsham area. That places it in the bottom half of its immediate local league table, though the picture is more nuanced when you look at the wider county — it comes 89th out of 226 primary schools across West Sussex. Its top-performing local peers include Barns Green Primary School, Heron Way Primary School, and Aldingbourne Primary School, all of which score higher on the ranking metric used. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Heron Way Primary, about 4.6 kilometres away. Colgate itself has held a Good rating from Ofsted since at least 2012, and its most recent ungraded inspection in March 2023 confirmed the school remains Good. Leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness were all graded Good in the previous graded inspection from December 2017.

Academically, Colgate’s Key Stage 2 results for the 2023/24 year show a mixed picture. The percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths combined was 59%, which is slightly above the West Sussex local authority average of 56%. Reading was a particular strength, with 91% of pupils meeting the expected standard and 32% reaching the higher standard. Maths followed at 77% expected and 14% higher, while writing saw 73% at expected but only 5% at the higher level. Average scaled scores were 106 in reading and 104 in maths. Nationally, the school ranks in the 60th percentile among all primaries, and in the 59th percentile within the South East region. No progress scores are available for reading, writing, or maths, so it’s not possible to say how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. The school has no sixth form, as expected for a primary, and no nursery provision.

Colgate is a relatively small school with 129 pupils against a capacity of 140, and it is oversubscribed: for 20 places in the 2025/26 academic year, it received 64 total applications, with 18 first-preference applications and 17 first-preference offers — an oversubscription ratio of 3.2 to one. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is 18.6%, slightly above the national average. Facilities include a dining hall, library, sensory room, playing fields, outdoor playground, and a chapel. Sports on offer cover dance, gymnastics, netball, football, athletics, cross country, and cricket, while clubs include drama, choir, book club, coding, film club, and eco club. The school’s SEND provisions are listed for specific learning difficulties including dyslexia, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families looking for a well-subscribed village primary with solid core results, particularly in reading, and a range of extracurricular options despite its small size.

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