The Gatwick School

About The Gatwick School

The Gatwick School is a mixed, all-through state school in Crawley, West Sussex, catering for pupils from ages 4 to 16. It currently has 846 pupils on roll against a total capacity of 1,020, meaning there is some physical room to grow, but the school is clearly in high demand. For the 2025/26 secondary intake, the school received 253 applications for just 76 places, an oversubscription ratio of 3.33 to one. Only 32 of those offers went to first-preference applicants, which suggests that while many families want a place, competition is fierce. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 19.1 per cent, which is above the national average for secondary schools and indicates a relatively high level of socio-economic disadvantage in the intake. The school has no religious character and does not operate a sixth form or nursery provision, so it is a straightforward option for families seeking a non-denominational education from primary through to the end of GCSEs.

Academically, the school’s most recent Ofsted inspection in 2024 rated it Good across all five categories, including behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership. This is consistent with its previous Good rating from 2017, so the school has maintained a solid standard over time. However, the headline Progress 8 score for the 2023/24 cohort was -0.42, which is below the West Sussex local authority average of +0.03 and places the school in the bottom 50 nationally. Within Crawley, it ranks 6th out of 7 schools on this measure. The Attainment 8 score was 37.4, and just 55 per cent of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths, compared with 27.9 per cent at grade 5 or above. The EBacc average point score was 3.13, with only 7.2 per cent of pupils entering the full EBacc. Progress in maths was close to the national average at +0.04, but English progress was slightly negative at -0.13, and open and EBacc element progress scores were notably weaker.

The school offers a broad range of facilities, including art studios, an ICT suite, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, playing fields, an astro turf pitch, and a sports hall. Sports on offer include football, rugby, cricket, swimming, tennis, and dance, while clubs range from chess and debate to orchestra, gardening, and Young Enterprise. For families with children who have additional needs, the school lists provisions for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing impairment, multi-sensory impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. Given the high oversubscription ratio, families considering The Gatwick School should be prepared for a competitive admissions process. The school is best suited to those who value a stable, Good-rated local option with a wide co-curricular offer, and who are comfortable with academic outcomes that sit below the local average, particularly in the EBacc subjects.

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