Elm Grove Primary School

About Elm Grove Primary School

Elm Grove Primary School in Brighton and Hove holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained across its two most recent inspections, including an ungraded visit in 2023 that confirmed the school remains Good. The most telling academic metric for this primary school is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which stands at 52 per cent. That figure is below the local authority average of 59 per cent for similar schools, and it places Elm Grove 32nd out of 40 primary schools in Brighton and Hove. In national terms, the school sits in the bottom half of all primaries for this combined measure. The picture is more mixed when you look at individual subjects: 78 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and 63 per cent did so in writing, but maths was weaker at 61 per cent. Only 2 per cent of pupils reached the higher standard across all three subjects.

The school’s average scaled scores tell a similar story. Reading scored 105, which is above the national benchmark of 100, while maths scored 101, just a point above the national average. However, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading was 28 per cent, compared with just 9 per cent in maths and 3 per cent in writing. Progress scores are not available in the data, so it is hard to say how much value the school adds from its starting points. In its most recent graded inspection in 2017, Ofsted rated leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness all as Good. The school has no sixth form and no nursery provision, so the focus is squarely on the primary years. With 412 pupils on roll against a capacity of 436, the school is nearly full, and 19.9 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is slightly above the national average.

Elm Grove is heavily oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, there were 213 applications for 57 places, a ratio of 3.74 applicants per place, and only 52 first-preference offers were made. The school offers a broad range of facilities including a sports hall, playing fields, a gymnasium, a forest school, and an ICT suite. There is also a chapel on site, which is unusual for a non-religious school. Sports include football, netball, cricket, athletics, rounders, cross country and gymnastics, and clubs range from art and drama to book club and eco club. The school’s SEND provisions cover a wide spectrum, including support for autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties. This is a school that suits families who value a strong pastoral and SEND offer and who are prepared for a competitive admissions process, but who may want to keep a close eye on academic outcomes compared with local peers.

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