Rustington Community Primary School
North Lane, Rustington, Littlehampton, BN16 3PW
- Phase
- Primary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 4 to 11
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- SCHOOLSWORKS ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Ms Marie Smailes
- Sponsor
- Schoolsworks Academy Trust
- Constituency
- Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 630
- Pupils on roll
- 554
- URN
- 139478
- Local authority
- West Sussex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01903785271
About this school
Rustington Community Primary School is a primary academy in Littlehampton. It teaches children aged 4 to 11 and has 554 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Early years
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 2 (end of primary school)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 2 | 90 | 87 | 84 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 61% | 61% | 56% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 9% | 5% | 4% |
| Expected standard in reading | 82% | 76% | 74% |
| Expected standard in maths | 73% | 75% | 70% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 71% | 70% | 65% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 106.0 | 105.0 | 104.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 103.0 | 103.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | +1.00 | - | - |
| Writing progress | +1.30 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -0.70 | - | - |
Progress measures ended nationally after the 2022/23 school year, when the key stage 1 assessments they were based on were stopped. Blank progress figures in later years are not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Rustington Community Primary 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 | 61% | 53.2% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 61% | 54.1% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 56% | 56.3% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 5.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 4.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 618 |
| 2023/24 | 601 |
| 2024/25 | 579 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Rustington Community Primary School compares
Rustington Community Primary School ranked 124th of 192 primary schools in West Sussex for KS2 results in 2024/25. Its KS2 result was higher than 31% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | KS2 RWM (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 56% | 4.8% | 8.5% | 554 | — |
| Summerlea Community Primary School | — | 5.2% | 12.1% | 377 | 0.2 miles |
| Georgian Gardens Community Primary School | 56% | 5.4% | 21% | 405 | 0.9 miles |
| St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Littlehampton | — | 7.2% | 18.9% | 216 | 1.2 miles |
| River Beach Primary School | 58% | 7% | 27.4% | 665 | 1.3 miles |
| Lyminster Primary School | 50% | 6.1% | 25.9% | 205 | 1.3 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.
Inspection history
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 8.46%
- English as an additional language
- 4.8%
- Overall absence
- 4.84%
- Persistent absence
- 8.81%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Summerlea Community Primary School0.2 miles
Primary · Littlehampton
-
Georgian Gardens Community Primary School0.9 miles
Primary · Littlehampton
-
St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Littlehampton1.2 miles
Primary · Littlehampton
-
River Beach Primary School1.3 miles
Primary · Littlehampton
-
Lyminster Primary School1.3 miles
Primary · Littlehampton
Other schools in Littlehampton
Rustington Community Primary School ranks 7th of the 9 ranked primary schools in Littlehampton.
- East Preston Infant School Primary
- East Preston Junior School Primary
- Georgian Gardens Community Primary School Primary
- Lyminster Primary School Primary
- River Beach Primary School Primary
- St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, Littlehampton Primary
- St Margaret's CofE Primary School Primary
- St Mary's CofE Primary School Primary
- St Wilfrids Catholic Primary School Primary
- Summerlea Community Primary School Primary
- White Meadows Primary Academy Primary
- The Angmering School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does Rustington Community Primary School teach?
- Rustington Community Primary School teaches children aged 4 to 11. It is a primary school in Littlehampton.
- Who is the headteacher of Rustington Community Primary School?
- The headteacher of Rustington Community Primary School is Ms Marie Smailes, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Rustington Community Primary School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Rustington Community Primary 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 big is Rustington Community Primary School?
- Rustington Community Primary School has 554 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 11.
- Is Rustington Community Primary School full?
- Rustington Community Primary School has capacity for 630 pupils and 554 on roll (88%), 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 Rustington Community Primary School a faith school?
- No. Rustington Community Primary School has no designated religious character.
- Does Rustington Community Primary School have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Rustington Community Primary School as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Rustington Community Primary School?
- Rustington Community Primary School is part of SCHOOLSWORKS ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Rustington Community Primary School's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 61% in 2022/23 and 56% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Rustington Community Primary School rank locally?
- Rustington Community Primary School ranked 124th of 192 primary schools in West Sussex for key stage 2 results. Its KS2 result was higher than 31% of England primary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 64% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Rustington Community Primary School's absence rate?
- Rustington Community Primary School's overall absence rate is 4.8% in the latest published census, at or below the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Rustington Community Primary School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Rustington Community Primary 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 1 July 2026.