Lindfield Primary Academy

Lindfield Primary Academy is a large, inclusive primary school where pupils are happy, safe and well cared for. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school is particularly strong in attendance, behaviour, early years, inclusion, and personal development. Pupils attend well above national rates, behave excellently, and benefit from a calm, purposeful environment. Children in Reception get off to a strong start, and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers are well supported to access learning.

Strengths

• Safeguarding culture is open, positive and meets all legal requirements.
• Attendance is above national figures and persistent absence is well below national averages.
• Behaviour is excellent, with calm classrooms and respectful conduct around the school.
• Early years provision is highly effective, giving children a strong start in reading, phonics and communication.
• Inclusion is a key strength, with swift identification of needs and effective support for pupils with SEND or disadvantage.
• Personal development and wellbeing are promoted exceptionally well, including through clubs, leadership roles and pastoral care.
• Reading is prioritised, phonics is taught well, and pupils access quality texts across the curriculum.
• Staff feel supported, workload is managed carefully, and parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils' handwriting is less well developed and needs consistent improvement.
• Vocabulary development is stronger in core subjects than across the wider curriculum.
• Some gaps in pupils' building blocks of knowledge are not addressed as swiftly as they could be.
• Governance is still developing the consistency of support and challenge following changes to delegation and the trust handover.
• Disadvantaged pupils' attainment remains below national non-disadvantaged averages in some measures, including reading and combined reading, writing and mathematics.

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 Lindfield Primary Academy attended 96.4% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 4.2% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

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, 0.0% of pupils at Lindfield Primary Academy were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). 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 Lindfield Primary Academy had 24.5 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

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, 12.7% of pupils at Lindfield Primary Academy were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

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 primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Lindfield Primary Academy received £5,710 and spent £6,074 for each of its 660 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £15,000 (£23 per pupil).

Across all 11 schools of Hurst Education Trust Limited, income was £5,584 and spending £5,780 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 Haywards Heath · West Sussex local authority: places and applications

Lindfield Primary Academy is part of Hurst Education Trust Limited, which runs 14 schools. The nearest others:

• Blackthorns Community Primary School Haywards Heath
• St Wilfrid's CofE Primary School Haywards Heath
• Bolnore Village Primary School Haywards Heath
• Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School, Cuckfield Haywards Heath
• Balcombe Cofe Primary School Haywards Heath
• West Hoathly CofE Primary School Select
• Ditchling St Margaret's Church of England Primary School Ditchling
• Turners Hill Church of England Primary School Crawley
• Albourne Church of England Primary School Hassocks
• Crawley Down Village CofE School Crawley

What is Lindfield Primary Academy's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lindfield Primary Academy is Expected standard, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Lindfield Primary Academy last inspected by Ofsted?

Lindfield Primary Academy was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Lindfield Primary Academy have?

Lindfield Primary Academy has 656 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lindfield Primary Academy cover?

Lindfield Primary Academy for pupils aged 5 to 11.

What are Lindfield Primary Academy's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 70% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lindfield Primary Academy?

Lindfield Primary Academy is at School Lane, Lindfield, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 2DX.