How far East Sussex schools admitted from
How far away the last child offered a place lived, for 34 East Sussex schools, from the council's own figures. Tightest first.
Sign up to save the schools you care about and be told when East Sussex republishes a distance.
Primary and secondary schools.
Applying for September 2027? Secondary applications close on 31 October 2026, with offers on 1 March 2027; primary applications close on 15 January 2027, with offers on 16 April 2027.
The tightest is Park Mead Primary School at 0.26 miles in varies; the most far-reaching, Heathfield Community College, admitted from 7.36 miles.
Primary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Mead Primary School Hailsham | Ungraded inspection, November 2024: standards maintained | 0.26 mi | varies | 86% |
| Rocks Park Primary School Uckfield | Good | 0.33 mi | varies | 99% |
| Denton Community Primary School and Nursery Newhaven | Ungraded inspection, December 2024: standards maintained | 0.44 mi | varies | 75% |
| Meridian Community Primary School and Nursery Peacehaven | Good | 0.58 mi | varies | 107% |
| White House Academy Hailsham | Good | 0.79 mi | varies | 90% |
| All Saints Church of England Primary School, Bexhill Bexhill-on-Sea | Ungraded inspection, January 2025: standards maintained | 0.82 mi | varies | 125% |
| Ashdown Primary School Crowborough | Good | 0.93 mi | varies | 97% |
| Dudley Infant Academy Hastings | Good | 0.94 mi | varies | 94% |
| Willingdon Primary School Eastbourne | Good | 0.95 mi | varies | 100% |
| Maynards Green Community Primary School Heathfield | Good | 1.0 mi | varies | 98% |
| Harbour Primary and Nursery School Newhaven | Ungraded inspection, April 2025: standards maintained | 1.04 mi | varies | 99% |
| Hellingly Community Primary School Hailsham | Good | 1.14 mi | varies | 81% |
| Parkland Infant School Eastbourne | Report card | 1.83 mi | varies | 99% |
| Pashley Down Infant School Eastbourne | Good | 1.91 mi | varies | 85% |
| Rotherfield Primary School Crowborough | Good | 2.11 mi | varies | 100% |
| Wivelsfield Primary School and Nursery Wivelsfield Green | Good | 2.12 mi | varies | 115% |
| Stonegate Church of England Primary School Wadhurst | Good | 2.28 mi | varies | 110% |
| High Hurstwood Church of England Primary School Uckfield | Good | 2.45 mi | varies | 96% |
| Barcombe Church of England Primary School Lewes | No current grade | 2.67 mi | varies | 94% |
| Newick Church of England Primary School Lewes | No current grade | 2.7 mi | varies | 99% |
| Hankham Primary School Pevensey | Good | 2.79 mi | varies | 76% |
| Frant Church of England Primary School Tunbridge Wells | Good | 3.24 mi | varies | 91% |
| Plumpton Primary School Lewes | Good | 3.29 mi | varies | 97% |
| Chiddingly Primary School Lewes | Ungraded inspection, December 2024: standards maintained | 3.53 mi | varies | 98% |
| Catsfield Church of England Primary School Battle | No current grade | 3.56 mi | varies | 100% |
| Alfriston School Polegate | No current grade | 3.63 mi | varies | 81% |
| Nutley Church of England Primary School Uckfield | Report card | 4.4 mi | varies | 57% |
| Battle and Langton Church of England Primary School Battle | Ungraded inspection, April 2025: standards maintained | 4.89 mi | varies | 98% |
| Dallington Church of England Primary School Heathfield | Good | 5.56 mi | varies | 112% |
| Bodiam Church of England Primary School Robertsbridge | No current grade | 5.83 mi | varies | 81% |
Secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Admitted from | Round | How full |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willingdon Community School Eastbourne | Good | 2.69 mi | varies | 106% |
| Claverham Community College Battle | Good | 4.4 mi | varies | 101% |
| Chailey School Lewes | Report card | 4.8 mi | varies | 99% |
| Heathfield Community College Heathfield | Good | 7.36 mi | varies | 94% |
If a place is refused
You can appeal. In 2025, 83 of 348 secondary appeals heard here were allowed (23.9%; England 19.9%), counted for all the council's schools together.
How to read this
Every refusal carries a right of appeal to an independent panel. In East Sussex, panels heard 348 appeals for secondary places in the 2025 round and allowed 83 of them, 23.9%, against 19.9% across England. These are the council's figures for all its schools together: appeals are not published school by school, so no one can tell you the rate for one named school, and this page will not pretend to.
An infant class appeal, for reception to year 2, can only be allowed on narrow legal grounds, which is why its share is a fraction of the others.
| Appeals in 2025 | Lodged | Heard | Allowed | Share allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secondary | 470 | 348 | 83 | 23.9% |
| Primary | 62 | 37 | 4 | 10.8% |
| Primary (infant classes) | 49 | 27 | 1 | 3.7% of 27 heard |
How every council compares, and what the figures are and are not.
How often children here are out of school
Primary schools here missed 5.7% of sessions in 2024/25 (England 5.2%), and 14.5% of pupils were persistently absent (England 13.0%).
How to read this
In East Sussex, 5.7% of primary school sessions were missed in 2024/25, about the same as the 5.2% across England. That is days missed. The second figure is children: 14.5% of primary pupils here were persistently absent, meaning they missed a tenth or more of their sessions, higher than England's 13.0%.
| 2024/25 | Sessions missed | England | Persistently absent | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 5.7% | 5.2% | 14.5% | 13.0% |
| Secondary | 9.5% | 8.4% | 26.4% | 23.4% |
What the figures mean
Persistently absent means missing a tenth or more of their sessions, for any reason, authorised or not. A council's rate is moved by things no school controls, term-time holidays and a bad winter among them, so read it as the weather around the schools rather than a mark against them. Higher or lower is said only where the two rates differ by at least 1 percentage point.
These are East Sussex's figures for all its schools together. The Department for Education publishes absence by council, not school by school, so no one can give you the rate for one named school from this release. Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk. Read on 1 October 2026.
Source: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, by council, not school by school
Reading the numbers
These are distances, not catchment areas, and they move every year.
How to read this
For every oversubscribed school, East Sussex publishes how far away the last child offered a place lived. A short distance means a school that fills up close to its gates; a long one means places went further afield. The address on the deadline is the one the council uses.
These are not catchment areas: most English schools have none. Each figure is the distance from the school to the home of the furthest child who was offered a place under the distance criterion in that round, as East Sussex measures it, which is usually a straight line from a fixed point at the home to one at the school. Looked-after children, siblings and, at faith schools, faith criteria come before distance, so a school can fill before distance is reached at all. The figure moves every year with the number of applications. How the whole process works →
Checking an address against these
Each school's page has a checker that measures a postcode against that school's distance. The full property report measures every nearby school at once, alongside sold prices, flood risk and the rest of the house.
Admission distances published by East Sussex. School details and grades from the Department for Education's register and Ofsted. If a figure looks wrong, tell us and it goes on the accuracy log.