The Sir Robert Woodard Academy

The Sir Robert Woodard Academy at a glance

Located in Sompting, West Sussex, The Sir Robert Woodard Academy is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a sponsor-led academy with a Christian religious character. The school educates roughly 1,412 pupils aged 11 to 18. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Good' when it was last inspected in January 2026. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 42.1, below the national average of 46. That is down 2.3 points in its Attainment 8 score on the previous year. On our composite score, which combines the DfE attainment measures above, this places it in the lower half of secondary schools nationally.

38% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, below the national average of about 45%. 62% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. The Sir Robert Woodard Academy was not oversubscribed for September 2026: all 224 families who put it first were offered a place. The council's own allocation figures show the last child offered a place for 2025 lived 1.04 miles away in a straight line — that distance is not a fixed catchment and moves each year. After Year 11, 90% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 9.8%. There are about 16.9 pupils per teacher. Given the recent dip in results, it may be worth asking the school what is behind the change and what is being done in response. This overview is generated automatically from the latest published DfE performance tables and Ofsted data; figures are rounded, and you can check the originals via the official links above.