The Eastbourne Academy
Brodrick Road, Eastbourne, BN22 9RQ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SWALE ACADEMIES TRUST
- Principal
- Co Headteacher Carly Rollings
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Swale Academies Trust
- SEN provision
- SLCN - Speech, language and Communication, ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
- Constituency
- Eastbourne
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 900
- Pupils on roll
- 776
- URN
- 136106
- Local authority
- East Sussex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01323514900
About this school
The Eastbourne Academy is a secondary academy in Eastbourne. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 776 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Inadequate
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Inadequate
- Personal development
- Requires improvement
- Leadership and management
- Inadequate
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Ofsted placed the school in a category of concern: serious weaknesses.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 171 | 154 | 160 |
| Attainment 8 score | 35.2 | 29.1 | 37.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.52 -0.75 to -0.30 | -0.88 -1.11 to -0.66 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 21% | 16.9% | 25% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 49% | 31.8% | 51.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 14% | 15.6% | 20.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.9 | 2.4 | 3.1 |
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 Eastbourne Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | East Sussex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 35.2 | 36.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 29.1 | 35 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 37.7 | 33.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 14.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 13.9% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 10.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 856 |
| 2023/24 | 835 |
| 2024/25 | 800 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The Eastbourne Academy compares
The Eastbourne Academy ranked 20th of 22 secondary schools in East Sussex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 32% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 37.7 | 10.9% | 47.3% | 776 | — |
| Ratton School | 43 | 9.1% | 26.7% | 1,183 | 0.8 miles |
| The Turing School | 34.6 | 15% | 40.5% | 771 | 1.0 miles |
| Willingdon Community School | 45 | 7.4% | 19.6% | 1,117 | 1.4 miles |
| St Catherine's College | 47.6 | 8.7% | 25.3% | 1,064 | 2.1 miles |
| Seaford Head School | 49.4 | 8.6% | 20.3% | 1,461 | 6.9 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)
- 47.25%
- English as an additional language
- 11.5%
- Overall absence
- 10.85%
- Persistent absence
- 29.16%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Ratton School0.8 miles
Secondary · Eastbourne
-
The Turing School1.0 miles
Secondary · Eastbourne
-
Willingdon Community School1.4 miles
Secondary · Eastbourne
-
St Catherine's College2.1 miles
Secondary · Eastbourne
-
Seaford Head School6.9 miles
Secondary · Seaford
Other schools in Eastbourne
The Eastbourne Academy ranks 6th of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Eastbourne.
- Ratton School Secondary
- St Catherine's College Secondary
- The Turing School Secondary
- Willingdon Community School Secondary
- Bourne Primary School Primary
- Heron Park Primary Academy Primary
- Langney Primary Academy Primary
- Motcombe Infants' School Primary
- Oakwood Primary Academy Primary
- Ocklynge Junior School Primary
- Parkland Infant School Primary
- Parkland Junior School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does The Eastbourne Academy teach?
- The Eastbourne Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Eastbourne.
- Who is the principal of The Eastbourne Academy?
- The principal of The Eastbourne Academy is Co Headteacher Carly Rollings, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The Eastbourne Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The Eastbourne Academy, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The Eastbourne Academy?
- The Eastbourne Academy has 776 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is The Eastbourne Academy full?
- The Eastbourne Academy has capacity for 900 pupils and 776 on roll (86%), 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 The Eastbourne Academy a faith school?
- No. The Eastbourne Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is The Eastbourne Academy a selective school?
- No. The Eastbourne Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs The Eastbourne Academy?
- The Eastbourne Academy is part of SWALE ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The Eastbourne Academy have?
- The schools register lists The Eastbourne Academy's special educational needs provision as: SLCN - Speech, language and Communication; ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder; SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health; MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The Eastbourne Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 35.2 in 2022/23 and 37.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The Eastbourne Academy rank locally?
- The Eastbourne Academy ranked 20th of 22 secondary schools in East Sussex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 32% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 6% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The Eastbourne Academy's absence rate?
- The Eastbourne Academy's overall absence rate is 10.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The Eastbourne Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The Eastbourne Academy'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 1 July 2026.