Welcome from the Headteacher

I am delighted to welcome you to Chailey School. We are an 11-16 secondary comprehensive school situated in rural Sussex and we serve many surrounding villages and towns in both East and West Sussex. 

I am privileged to lead such a fantastic community with a unique ethos and focus on ‘kindness’. We believe our school is a special place with high quality care and support, as well a record of high achievement and a huge variety of broader opportunities.  Visitors to the school often comment on the very warm and lively atmosphere that exists in our school.

A child’s experience at school plays a crucial part in shaping their future and choosing a secondary school is a key decision for all families. Students at Chailey can be sure that their talents, abilities and needs will be the focus of all that we do. The school exists for the students – it is their futures that staff, families and governors invest in and we are proud to know all our students as individuals. We believe in traditional values and have high expectations of students in their work, behaviour and appearance.

Our record in GCSE results is excellent and has been sustained year on year with students achieving well above expected national levels of attainment. We offer a rigorous core academic curriculum for all students. We are justly proud of all our academic achievements, but our true measure of success is seeing a school full of happy, confident and independent young people, fully engaged in their studies and the broader life of the school.

School is about more than just exam results and we are passionate about ensuring students have many rich experiences both within and beyond the school environment.

We are proud to be awarded Arts Mark Gold for the level of our attainment and commitment to the wider arts and also have a national award for learning outside of the classroom.

Our students are our future and we seek to broaden their horizons by offering them a rich variety of opportunities and experiences including many residential experiences both within and beyond the UK.  We want our students to be curious and adventurous; interested in, and excited by, what lies beyond the school.

Pastoral care at Chailey is widely recognised as outstanding. We take great care over transition arrangements for new students and continue to provide individualised care for our students throughout their life at the school. We have a great staff who are willing to go the extra mile to make the difference between success and failure. We believe that positive relationships between adults and young people lie at the root of the education we offer and we work extremely hard to prepare each young person, both socially and academically, for the world beyond school.  We have a strong home-school partnership working closely with our students and families to ensure that the school is offering an educational experience that is both engaging and rewarding.

We encourage our students to become active and responsible citizens who are respectful of others. We have a wide range of opportunities for students to make a positive contribution to the life of the school and the wider community and to develop their leadership skills.

Our students and staff would be delighted to show you more of our very happy and high achieving school. We look forward to welcoming you.

Helen Key
Head Teacher