St Margaret's CofE Primary School, Rottingdean

About St Margaret's CofE Primary School, Rottingdean

St Margaret's CofE Primary School in Rottingdean holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it earned in its most recent graded inspection in 2016 and maintained in an ungraded inspection in 2025, where inspectors confirmed standards were still being met. This marks a clear improvement from its previous overall rating of Requires Improvement in 2014. 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 sits at 63%. That is four percentage points above the local authority average of 59% for similar schools, placing St Margaret's 17th out of 40 primary schools in Brighton and Hove. The school also performs well on individual subjects: 79% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, 75% in reading and 75% in maths. Average scaled scores were 108 in reading and 105 in maths, both comfortably above the national benchmark of 100.

Looking beyond the expected standard, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading, writing and maths combined is 4%, while 29% reached the higher standard in reading alone, 21% in maths and 8% in writing. Nationally, the school ranks in the 50th percentile, placing it squarely in the middle of the pack across England. In the South East region it sits at the 47th percentile. The school's ranking score of 63 places it just outside the top 15 in the local authority, behind schools like Bilingual Primary School and Hove Junior School. The parent view survey, based on 90 responses collected between September 2024 and September 2025, shows strong satisfaction: 96% of parents would recommend the school, and 77% strongly agreed that their child is happy there. Notably, all parents who responded about SEND support agreed or strongly agreed that the school gives children with special educational needs the support they need.

St Margaret's is a Church of England primary school for mixed gender pupils aged 5 to 11, with a current roll of 176 against a capacity of 210. It is oversubscribed for the 2025/26 intake, receiving 88 applications for 27 places, with 25 first-preference offers made — an oversubscription ratio of 3.26 applicants per place. The school has a below-average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 14.8%. Facilities include a library, playing fields, a gymnasium, sports hall, sensory room and chapel. Sports on offer include rounders, football, cricket, gymnastics, swimming and athletics, while clubs cover drama, coding, eco club and choir. The school lists SEND provisions for specific learning difficulties, moderate and severe learning difficulties, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families who value a strong academic foundation within a church ethos, and who are looking for a well-supported, community-focused primary with good local results.

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