The St Leonards Academy
Edinburgh Campus,, Edinburgh Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN38 8HH
This school is closed (it closed in February 2026).
It was replaced by Mulberry Academy St Leonards. That page has the school's current information.
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Head Teacher
- Mr Jon Francies
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, PD - Physical Disability
- Constituency
- Hastings and Rye
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,500
- Pupils on roll
- 1,314
- URN
- 136400
- Local authority
- East Sussex
- Website
- School website
About this school
The St Leonards Academy was a secondary academy in St Leonards-on-Sea. It taught children aged 11 to 16 and had 1,314 pupils on roll.
Ofsted did not inspect it under the current framework.
Ofsted judgement
The St Leonards Academy has not been inspected by Ofsted yet. It opened in its current form in September 2011, and new or converted schools usually wait a few years for their first inspection.
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 287 | 280 | 257 |
| Attainment 8 score | 32.4 | 30.7 | 33.2 |
| Progress 8 score | -1.08 -1.25 to -0.92 | -1.22 -1.39 to -1.05 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 28% | 25% | 25.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 42% | 38.2% | 44.4% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 4% | 6.1% | 8.9% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.6 | 2.5 | 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 The St Leonards 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 | 32.4 | 36.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 30.7 | 35 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 33.2 | 33.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 16.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 14.5% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.1% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,432 |
| 2023/24 | 1,345 |
| 2024/25 | 1,322 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The St Leonards Academy compares
Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 25% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 33.2 | 11.1% | 46.5% | 1,314 | — |
| Mulberry Academy St Leonards | — | — | — | — | 0.1 miles |
| Ark Alexandra Academy | 42.6 | 9% | 33.8% | 1,315 | 2.0 miles |
| St Richard's Catholic College | — | — | — | 1,029 | 2.2 miles |
| Bexhill High Academy | 41.7 | 8.9% | 31.1% | 1,441 | 3.4 miles |
| Mulberry Academy Hastings | 38.2 | 10.2% | 45.8% | 833 | 3.9 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)
- 46.52%
- English as an additional language
- 10.4%
- Overall absence
- 11.1%
- Persistent absence
- 35.51%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Mulberry Academy St Leonards0.1 miles
Secondary · St Leonards-on-Sea
-
Ark Alexandra Academy2.0 miles
Secondary · Hastings
-
St Richard's Catholic College2.2 miles
Secondary · Bexhill-on-Sea
-
Bexhill High Academy3.4 miles
Secondary · Bexhill-on-Sea
-
Mulberry Academy Hastings3.9 miles
Secondary · Hastings
Other schools in St Leonards-on-Sea
- Mulberry Academy St Leonards Secondary
- Ark Little Ridge Primary Academy Primary
- Churchwood Primary School Primary
- Mulberry Silverdale Primary Primary
- Mulberry West St Leonards Primary Primary
- Robsack Wood Primary School Primary
- St Leonards Church of England Primary Academy Primary
- St Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School Primary
- St Paul's Church of England Academy Primary
- Lansdowne Children's Centre Other types
- New Horizons School (Part of the Sabden Multi Academy Trust) Academies
- Saxon Mount School Academies
Common questions
- What ages does The St Leonards Academy teach?
- The St Leonards Academy taught children aged 11 to 16. It was a secondary school in St Leonards-on-Sea.
- Has The St Leonards Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has not inspected The St Leonards Academy 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 St Leonards Academy?
- The St Leonards Academy had 1,314 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- How have The St Leonards Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 32.4 in 2022/23 and 33.2 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 St Leonards Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The St Leonards 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.