The Forest School
The Forest School is a converter academy in Horsham for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 1,115 pupils and room for 1,140. About 13 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far fewer than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2022.
Comptons Lane, Horsham, RH13 5NT01403 261086theforestschool.comMr Ian Straw headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 26 January 2022 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
This inspection is more than 4 years old. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of one grade.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
202 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England. These are the results of The Forest School, the school this one replaced.
All GCSE measures, year by year
| Measure | 2025† | 2024† | 2023† | 2022† | 2019† | 2018† | West Sussex | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of Year 11 | 202 | 181 | 223 | 220 | 218 | 193 | – | – |
| Average GCSE scoreAttainment 8 | 47.0 | 45.9 | 48.2 | 50.7 | 45.2 | 45.3 | 46.6 | 46.8 |
| Progress from age 11Progress 8 | – | -0.28 | +0.09 | -0.10 | -0.44 | -0.50 | – | – |
| Strong pass in English and mathsGrade 5+ in English and maths | 56% | 49% | 48% | 51% | 36% | 46% | 46% | 46% |
| Standard pass in English and mathsGrade 4+ in English and maths | 75% | 71% | 70% | 76% | 62% | 65% | 68% | 66% |
| Core subjects scoreEBacc average point score | 3.98 | 4.07 | 4.26 | 4.45 | 3.95 | 3.43 | 4.10 | 4.15 |
| Taking the core subjectsEBacc entry | 10% | 19% | 30% | 32% | 28% | 0% | 38% | 41% |
| Average GCSE score: low-income pupilsAttainment 8, disadvantaged | 34.3 | 40.6 | 31.0 | 36.3 | 26.5 | 35.0 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: other pupilsAttainment 8, non-disadvantaged | 48.0 | 46.8 | 49.9 | 52.5 | 46.9 | 46.8 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started behindAttainment 8, low prior attainers | – | 24.0 | 28.0 | 26.1 | 18.5 | 19.2 | – | – |
| Average GCSE score: pupils who started aheadAttainment 8, high prior attainers | – | 65.3 | 68.7 | 69.1 | 59.0 | 57.4 | – | – |
† These results are for The Forest School, the school this one replaced in September 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Does every child do well here?
A good school does well by every child, not just on average. Each row compares two groups of pupils here. The grey marks show the same two groups across England. None of the gaps is smaller than the gap across England. When a group has fewer than about ten pupils, its figures jump around a lot from year to year.
At GCSE, 2025
Low-income means the child has had free school meals at some point in the last six years. A group's figure isn't published when it has fewer than six pupils.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
How places were given out for September 2026.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Specific learning difficulty (112), emotional and mental health (52), Autistic spectrum disorder (31), language and communications needs (25), Moderate learning difficulty (8), Physical disability (6).
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 92.2% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 91.4%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25† | 2023/24† | 2022/23† | 2021/22† | 2020/21† | 2018/19† | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 7.8% | 8.3% | 9.0% | 9.2% | 6.3% | 6.2% | 8.6% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 5.9% | 6.0% | 6.9% | 7.4% | 5.4% | 4.9% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2.1% | 1.9% | 0.9% | 1.3% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 22.5% | 24.9% | 26.4% | 29.5% | 16.3% | 15.2% | 23.9% |
† These attendance figures are for The Forest School, the school this one replaced in September 2025. Same building and the same children. It got a new registration number, usually because it joined an academy trust.
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other secondary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest secondary schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millais School | Council | 480 m | 896 | Good 2022 | 67 | Compare |
| Tanbridge House School | Council | 2.0 miles | 1,510 | Outstanding 2024 | 86 | Compare |
| Bohunt Horsham | Free school | 2.2 miles | 1,294 | Good 2023 | 43 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Forest School a good school?
The Forest School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in January 2022.
What is The Forest School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated The Forest School good at its last full inspection on 26 January 2022. That was more than four years ago. When Ofsted next visits, the school will get a report card instead of a single grade.
How good are The Forest School's GCSE results?
In summer 2025, 56% of pupils got a grade 5 or better in both English and maths. Across England it was 46%. Its Attainment 8 score, which is the average grade across a pupil's best eight subjects times ten, was 47.0, against 46.8 for England. In each subject, pupils here finished about half a grade behind children across England who started secondary school at the same level.
How many pupils does The Forest School have?
1,115 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 1,140 places, so it is 98% full.
What is attendance like at The Forest School?
Pupils were in school 92.2% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 91.4%. 23% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
How big are the classes at The Forest School?
The average class had 23.2 pupils in January 2026. Across England it was 22.8. 4% of classes had more than 30 pupils.
Does The Forest School have a sixth form?
No. Pupils leave after Year 11 for a sixth form elsewhere, a college or an apprenticeship.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Comptons Lane, Horsham, RH13 5NT
- Telephone
- 01403 261086
- Website
- www.theforestschool.com
- Headteacher
- Mr Ian Straw
- Type of school
- Converter academy (Academy converter, academies)
- Phase
- Secondary school, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Multi-academy trust
- Horsham Learning Alliance (2 schools)
- Local authority
- West Sussex
- Ward
- Forest
- Constituency
- Horsham
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2025 (academy converter)
- URN
- 151923 · LAESTAB 9384009 · UKPRN 10098616
- Formerly
- The Forest School
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Class sizes: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Admissions outcomes: West Sussex council's published allocation statistics (source), entry years 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.