Brighton Aldridge Community Academy

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy has improved since its previous inspection and is now performing well across the board. Inspectors found a welcoming, ambitious school where pupils have positive attitudes, feel safe and benefit from strong welfare support. Behaviour has improved markedly, disruption is rare, and the school has reduced behavioural incidents and suspensions. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, reading support is effective, and pupils are achieving well. The school is part of the Aldridge Education multi-academy trust and includes the Swan Centre, a local-authority-managed specially resourced SEND provision for pupils with education, health and care plans. Sixth-form provision is also strong, with students behaving well and acting as positive role models. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. Leaders have provided effective training and staff feel supported; governance offers a good balance of challenge and support. Parents are positive about improvements. However, some inconsistencies remain. Teachers do not always check pupils' understanding sharply enough to address gaps, and support for pupils with SEND is not always adapted as well as the school's best practice. Attendance has improved but remains below the national average, and the school does not always identify pupils at risk of poor attendance early enough to intervene promptly.

Strengths

• Welcoming and ambitious culture with high expectations for pupils
• Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and feel safe
• Broad, ambitious curriculum with a wide range of subjects and options
• Strong reading support, including effective help when pupils join
• Effective support for pupils with SEND, especially those with EHC plans and at the Swan Centre
• Improved behaviour management with fewer incidents and suspensions
• Well-planned personal development and strong sporting and extra-curricular opportunities
• Strong community and employer links
• Good sixth-form provision with positive student role models
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Supportive staff training and strong governance oversight
• Tenacious support for pupils with poor attendance

Areas for Improvement

• Assessment checks do not always identify gaps in pupils' understanding
• SEND adaptations are not consistently applied across all lessons
• Early identification of pupils at risk of poor attendance is not sharp enough
• Overall attendance remains below the national average

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy attended 84.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 42.6% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 7.4% of pupils at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Brighton Aldridge Community Academy had 16.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 32.9% of pupils at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 9.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 20 pupils.

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Brighton Aldridge Community Academy received £9,289 and spent £9,571 for each of its 820 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £151,000 (-£184 per pupil).

Across all 9 schools of Aldridge Education, income was £9,171 and spending £8,780 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Brighton · Brighton and Hove local authority: places and applications

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy is part of Aldridge Education, which runs 9 schools. The nearest others:

• Portslade Aldridge Community Academy Brighton
• Duke's Aldridge London
• AldridgeUTC@MediaCityUK Salford
• Aldridge UTC Warrington Warrington
• Darwen Aldridge Community Academy Darwen
• Darwen Aldridge Sudell Primary Darwen
• Aldridge UTC Darwen Darwen
• Darwen Vale High School Darwen

What is Brighton Aldridge Community Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Brighton Aldridge Community Academy is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Brighton Aldridge Community Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Brighton Aldridge Community Academy have?

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy has 808 pupils on roll.

What age range does Brighton Aldridge Community Academy cover?

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy for pupils aged 11 to 19.

What are Brighton Aldridge Community Academy's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 33.2, and 24% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Brighton Aldridge Community Academy?

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy is at Lewes Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9PW.