Beacon Academy

Academy converter·Secondary school Crowborough, East Sussex·TN6 2AS
Composite score
62.8
Compare Beacon Academy with another school
#895
National rank
#167
In South East
#4
In East Sussex
Top 28%
Nationally

Performance (KS4 GCSE)

Attainment 8 score
50.2
National avg ≈ 46
Progress 8 score
—
% achieving 9–5 in English & Maths
61%
% achieving 9–4 in English & Maths
81%
% EBacc grade 5+
18%
EBacc average points score
4.43

Ofsted judgements

Legacy framework · Read full report ↗

Overall effectiveness
Outstanding
Quality of education
Outstanding
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Leadership and management
Outstanding
Safeguarding effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision
Outstanding

Getting a place

Offered a place after putting it first
95%
238 first choices, 255 places
First choices per place
0.93
fewer first choices than places
Applications naming the school
398
any preference, for 255 places
Applications from another council area
10%
First preferences per place, last five years▼ 0.01
00.511.5
1 per place
1.0720221.0120231.0320240.9420250.932026

Red dashed line = one first choice per place. How to read this

We do not have a checked cut-off distance for Beacon Academy yet. East Sussex does publish allocation figures and we are working through them council by council — we only show a distance once we have found it in the council’s own document.

Application figures: DfE, school level applications and offers (2026 intake).

School profile

Age range
11–18
Pupils on roll
1,662
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
None
Admissions
Non-Selective

Pupil background

% FSM ever-6
14.8%
Typical secondary: 27.5%
% EAL
5.3%
Typical secondary: 12.0%

Special educational needs

% SEN support
10.5%
Typical secondary: 13.7%
% with an EHC plan
1.6%
Typical secondary: 2.9%

Attendance

Overall absence
10.2%
Typical secondary: 8.9%
Persistently absent
30.8%
Typical secondary: 25.7%

Staffing & funding

Pupils per teacher
18.6
Typical secondary: 16.7
Spend per pupil
£6,485
Typical secondary: £7,815

“Typical” = the median secondary school in England. What this means

What pupils do next

The share of this school's Year 11 leavers in education, training or employment for at least two terms afterwards.

In education, training or work
94%
248 pupils tracked
Stayed in education
88%
Apprenticeship
1%
Employment
5%

DfE, KS4 destination measures.

Nearby secondary schools

Location

Beacon Academy at a glance

Located in Crowborough, East Sussex, Beacon Academy is a secondary school, classified by the DfE as a converter academy. The school educates roughly 1,662 pupils aged 11 to 18. Ofsted judged the school to be 'Outstanding' at its most recent inspection. In the most recent GCSE results, pupils achieved an average Attainment 8 score of 50.2, above the national average of 46. That is down 1.9 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 top 28% of secondary schools nationally.

61% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in both English and maths, well above the national average of about 45%. 81% achieved a standard pass (grade 4+) in English and maths. 95% of the families who made Beacon Academy their first choice were offered a Year 7 place for September 2026, even though the school made at least as many offers as it had first choices - the rest withdrew, moved or fell outside a priority group. After Year 11, 94% of its leavers went on to education, an apprenticeship or work that they stayed in for at least two terms. Overall pupil absence was 10.2%. There are about 18.6 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.

Compare Beacon Academy with another school