Longhill High School

About Longhill High School

Longhill High School’s headline Progress 8 score of -0.7 sits well below the Brighton and Hove local authority average of 0.05, placing it firmly at the bottom of the league table for secondary schools in the area. Ranked 10th out of 10 schools in the LA, this is a significant gap that parents will want to weigh carefully. The school’s Progress 8 banding is officially described as ‘well below average’, and its national percentile ranking of 90.7 means it performs worse than nine out of ten schools across England. While the LA average suggests most Brighton and Hove secondaries help pupils make slightly more progress than the national baseline, Longhill’s figure indicates that, on average, pupils leave with nearly three-quarters of a grade less per subject than their peers nationally. This is a school that clearly faces considerable challenges in driving academic outcomes.

Digging into the detail, Longhill’s Attainment 8 score sits at 36.1, compared with a national average of around 46.5, and only 27.2 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths (the basics 5 measure). The English Baccalaureate entry rate is low at 17.8 per cent, and just 8.3 per cent of pupils achieved the EBacc at grade 5 or above. Across individual subject areas, Progress 8 is negative in every category: English (-0.48), maths (-0.76), the EBacc subjects (-0.62), and open subjects (-0.95). The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2024 rated it Requires Improvement across all four key areas, including behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. This is a downgrade from its previous Good rating in 2018, so the school is currently under pressure to reverse a clear decline in standards.

On the practical side, Longhill is a mixed 11-16 secondary with no sixth form, and it is oversubscribed: for 2025/26, it received 148 applications for 105 places, with 72 first-preference offers. The school serves a community with high levels of disadvantage — 43.8 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average. Facilities are decent, including a swimming pool, astro turf, tennis courts, and a sports hall, and there is a broad range of clubs from coding to gardening. SEND provision is extensive, covering dyslexia, autism, speech and language needs, and physical disabilities. For families considering Longhill, the key question is whether the school’s current trajectory can be turned around quickly enough to match the progress seen elsewhere in Brighton and Hove. It may suit those who value its inclusive ethos and wide extracurricular offer, but the academic data demands honest scrutiny.

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