Longhill High School
Falmer Road, Rottingdean, Brighton, BN2 7FR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mrs Rachelle Otulakowski
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- SEN provision
- SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,200
- Pupils on roll
- 632
- URN
- 114581
- Local authority
- Brighton and Hove
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01273304086
About this school
Longhill High School is a community secondary school in Brighton. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 632 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Longhill High School, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Overall judgement at the last full inspection
This inspection took place under the previous framework, which gave a single overall grade. Ofsted now publishes report cards instead, so newer inspections of other schools will look different. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Requires improvement
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Requires improvement
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Requires improvement
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 164 | 169 | 162 |
| Attainment 8 score | 35.8 | 36.1 | 32.9 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.62 -0.84 to -0.40 | -0.70 -0.92 to -0.48 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28% | 27.2% | 22.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 45% | 47.9% | 40.1% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 27% | 17.8% | 26.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.1 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Longhill High School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Brighton and Hove average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 35.8 | 40.2 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 36.1 | 36.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 32.9 | 37.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 13.4% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 15.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 16.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 875 |
| 2023/24 | 825 |
| 2024/25 | 723 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Longhill High School compares
Longhill High School ranked 10th of 10 secondary schools in Brighton and Hove for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 24% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 32.9 | 16.8% | 44.3% | 632 | — |
| Brighton Aldridge Community Academy | 36.2 | 15.2% | 50.2% | 808 | 2.9 miles |
| Peacehaven Community School | 40.1 | 11.2% | 23.5% | 890 | 3.5 miles |
| Varndean School | 48.8 | 9.2% | 20.5% | 1,487 | 3.7 miles |
| Dorothy Stringer School | 53.3 | 10.8% | 24% | 1,626 | 3.9 miles |
| Cardinal Newman Catholic School | 50.4 | 9.3% | 21.1% | 2,657 | 4.1 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 44.26%
- English as an additional language
- 7.5%
- Overall absence
- 16.82%
- Persistent absence
- 47.98%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy2.9 miles
Secondary · Brighton
-
Peacehaven Community School3.5 miles
Secondary · Peacehaven
-
Varndean School3.7 miles
Secondary · Brighton
-
Dorothy Stringer School3.9 miles
Secondary · Brighton
-
Cardinal Newman Catholic School4.1 miles
Secondary · Hove
Other schools in Brighton
Longhill High School ranks 6th of the 6 ranked secondary schools in Brighton.
- Brighton Aldridge Community Academy Secondary
- Dorothy Stringer School Secondary
- Patcham High School Secondary
- Portslade Aldridge Community Academy Secondary
- Varndean School Secondary
- Royal Spa Nursery School Nursery
- Tarnerland Nursery School Nursery
- Balfour Primary School Primary
- Benfield Primary School Primary
- Bevendean Primary School and Nursery Primary
- Brackenbury Primary School Primary
- Carden Nursery and Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Longhill High School teach?
- Longhill High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Brighton.
- Who is the headteacher of Longhill High School?
- The headteacher of Longhill High School is Mrs Rachelle Otulakowski, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Longhill High School been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Longhill High School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Longhill High School?
- Longhill High School has 632 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Longhill High School full?
- Longhill High School has capacity for 1,200 pupils and 632 on roll (53%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Longhill High School a faith school?
- No. Longhill High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Longhill High School a selective school?
- No. Longhill High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- What SEN provision does Longhill High School have?
- The schools register lists Longhill High School's special educational needs provision as: SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have Longhill High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 35.8 in 2022/23 and 32.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Longhill High School compare with other schools in Brighton and Hove?
- Longhill High School ranked 10th of 10 secondary schools in Brighton and Hove for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 24% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 1% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Longhill High School's absence rate?
- Longhill High School's overall absence rate is 16.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Longhill High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Longhill High School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 30 June 2026.