The Forest School
Comptons Lane, Horsham, RH13 5NT
This school is closed (it closed in August 2025).
It was replaced by The Forest School. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Community school
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Headteacher
- Mr Ian Straw
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Constituency
- Horsham
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,140
- Pupils on roll
- 1,095
- URN
- 126065
- Local authority
- West Sussex
About this school
The Forest School was a community secondary school in Horsham. It taught children aged 11 to 16 and had 1,095 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
The Forest School has not been inspected by Ofsted yet.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 223 | 181 | 202 |
| Attainment 8 score | 48.2 | 45.9 | 47.0 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.09 -0.10 to +0.28 | -0.28 -0.49 to -0.06 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 48% | 49.2% | 55.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 70% | 70.7% | 75.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 30% | 18.8% | 10.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
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 The Forest 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 | West Sussex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 48.2 | 37.1 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 45.9 | 37.2 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 47 | 36 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 8.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 7.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,023 |
| 2023/24 | 1,039 |
| 2024/25 | 1,095 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Forest School compares
Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 66% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 18% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 47 | 7.8% | 12.2% | 1,095 | — |
| The Forest School | — | — | — | 1,115 | 0.0 miles |
| Millais School | 51.6 | 8.7% | 11.7% | 896 | 0.3 miles |
| Tanbridge House School | 54.2 | 7% | 10% | 1,510 | 2.0 miles |
| Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley | 41.7 | 12% | 32.4% | 1,340 | 5.3 miles |
| St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley | 45.5 | 6.5% | 16% | 1,174 | 5.7 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)
- 12.24%
- English as an additional language
- 7.5%
- Overall absence
- 7.79%
- Persistent absence
- 22.54%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Forest School0.0 miles
Secondary · Horsham
-
Millais School0.3 miles
Secondary · Horsham
-
Tanbridge House School2.0 miles
Secondary · Horsham
-
Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School, Crawley5.3 miles
Secondary · Crawley
-
St Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, Crawley5.7 miles
Secondary · Crawley
Other schools in Horsham
- Millais School Secondary
- Tanbridge House School Secondary
- The Forest School Secondary
- Horsham Nursery School Nursery
- All Saints CofE Primary School, Horsham Primary
- Arunside School, Horsham Primary
- Barns Green Primary School Primary
- Castlewood Primary School Primary
- Colgate Primary School Primary
- Greenway Junior School Primary
- Heron Way Primary School Primary
- Holbrook Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does The Forest School teach?
- The Forest School taught children aged 11 to 16. It was a secondary school in Horsham.
- Has The Forest School been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected The Forest School under its current framework, so no current judgement is shown. That is common for newer schools and is not a mark against a school.
- How many pupils are at The Forest School?
- The Forest School had 1,095 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- How have The Forest School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 48.2 in 2022/23 and 47 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- What are The Forest School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Forest 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 31 August 2025.