Gildredge House
Compton Place Road, Eastbourne, BN20 8AB
- Phase
- All-through
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 4 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- GILDREDGE HOUSE FREE SCHOOL
- Head Teacher
- Mr Craig Bull
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- East Sussex County Council
- Constituency
- Eastbourne
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,232
- Pupils on roll
- 1,169
- URN
- 139796
- Local authority
- East Sussex
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01323400650
About this school
Gildredge House is an all-through academy in Eastbourne. It teaches children aged 4 to 16 and has 1,169 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 | 60 | 61 | 60 |
| Met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths | 60% | 64% | 60% |
| Reached the higher standard in reading, writing and maths | 3% | 5% | 2% |
| Expected standard in reading | 80% | 74% | 87% |
| Expected standard in maths | 75% | 77% | 73% |
| Expected standard in grammar, punctuation and spelling | 77% | 67% | 75% |
| Average scaled score in reading | 105.0 | 106.0 | 105.0 |
| Average scaled score in maths | 104.0 | 105.0 | 103.0 |
| Reading progress | -2.20 | - | - |
| Writing progress | -3.80 | - | - |
| Maths progress | -2.40 | - | - |
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.
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 144 | 146 | 148 |
| Attainment 8 score | 47.3 | 48.0 | 46.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.21 -0.46 to +0.03 | +0.16 -0.09 to +0.40 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 47% | 50.7% | 45.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 67% | 69.2% | 71.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 26% | 37% | 25.7% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
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 Gildredge House 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 | 60% | 54.8% | 57.9% |
| 2023/24 | 64% | 56.2% | 58.8% |
| 2024/25 | 60% | 57.6% | 60.3% |
Department for Education KS2 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | East Sussex average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 47.3 | 36.7 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 48 | 35 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 46.7 | 33.1 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 6.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.6% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.4% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,226 |
| 2023/24 | 1,182 |
| 2024/25 | 1,168 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Gildredge House compares
Gildredge House ranked 10th of 22 secondary schools in East Sussex for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 64% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 33% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 46.7 | 6.4% | 18.8% | 1,169 | — |
| The Cavendish School | 47.3 | 6.4% | 20.7% | 1,399 | 0.8 miles |
| Hailsham Academy | — | 12% | — | 1,577 | 6.7 miles |
| Eastbourne College | 40.2 | — | 0% | 560 | 0.7 miles |
| Motcombe Infants' School | — | 6.3% | 18.1% | 219 | 0.7 miles |
| St Thomas A Becket Catholic Primary School | — | — | — | 432 | 0.8 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)
- 18.75%
- English as an additional language
- 17%
- Overall absence
- 6.35%
- Persistent absence
- 14.98%
Location
Nearby schools
-
The Cavendish School0.8 miles
All-through · Eastbourne
-
Hailsham Academy6.7 miles
All-through · Hailsham
-
Eastbourne College0.7 miles
Independent schools · Eastbourne
-
Motcombe Infants' School0.7 miles
Primary · Eastbourne
-
St Thomas A Becket Catholic Primary School0.8 miles
Primary · Eastbourne
Other schools in Eastbourne
Gildredge House ranks 6th of the 14 ranked primary schools in Eastbourne, and Gildredge House ranks 3rd of the 7 ranked secondary schools in Eastbourne.
- The Cavendish School All-through
- 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
- Pashley Down Infant School Primary
- Roselands Infants' School Primary
- Shinewater Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Gildredge House teach?
- Gildredge House teaches children aged 4 to 16. It is an all-through school in Eastbourne.
- Who is the head teacher of Gildredge House?
- The head teacher of Gildredge House is Mr Craig Bull, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Gildredge House last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Gildredge House, 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 Gildredge House?
- Gildredge House has 1,169 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 4 to 16.
- Is Gildredge House full?
- Gildredge House has capacity for 1,232 pupils and 1,169 on roll (95%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Gildredge House a faith school?
- No. Gildredge House has no designated religious character.
- Is Gildredge House a selective school?
- No. Gildredge House is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Does Gildredge House have a nursery?
- No. The schools register records Gildredge House as having no nursery classes.
- Who runs Gildredge House?
- Gildredge House is part of GILDREDGE HOUSE FREE SCHOOL. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Gildredge House's results changed over recent years?
- Its share of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths was 60% in 2022/23 and 60% in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Gildredge House rank locally?
- Gildredge House ranked 10th of 22 secondary schools in East Sussex for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 64% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 33% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Gildredge House's absence rate?
- Gildredge House's overall absence rate is 6.4% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Gildredge House's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Gildredge House'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.