Farlington School is a co-educational, independent day and boarding school offering Nursery (6 months+) through to Sixth Form provision.
Farlington School was founded in 1896 as an all girls school by sisters Edith and Mary Buller in Haywards Heath. The school relocated to its present site at Strood Park (a beautiful Jacobean and Georgian Mansion) near Horsham in 1955. 2018 marked a new chapter in the Farlington story, as, under the leadership of Headmistress Ms Louise Higson, the school welcomed boys for the first time and by 2021, Farlington was a fully co-educational school, with boys in every year group and with their first ever Headmaster, Mr James Passam.
The school has invested in recent years to improve and broaden facilities, including the refurbishment of their boarding accommodation, and from September they are opening a new fitness suite. They have also recently introduced Economics and Computer Science at A-Level, and will now be offering A Level Design Technology.
A Level success
In 2025, Sixth Form students at the school celebrated success with 90% securing their first choice university place, 100% of those applying securing places at Russell Group universities, with 51% of grades awarded at A*-B and a 100% pass rate.
Students will now go on to read a range of subjects at prestigious universities across the country and beyond, including the University of Bristol (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), University of London (Media and Communications), University of the Arts London (Fine Art), University of Reading (Law), University of Southampton (Environmental Science) and the University of Toronto (Biochemistry). A small number of pupils are also choosing to take a gap year before pursuing courses in the future, as in previous years. Three Year 10 students achieved A* grades in A Level Russian and two Year 12 students achieved A grades in their AS Drama.
GCSE success
GCSE students also celebrated success with 21% grade 9, 36% grades 9-8, 50% grades 9-7 and 93% grades 9-4. Students success included 83% of students achieving grades 9-7 in triple sciences and 100% of students achieving a grade 5 or above in Maths. Across the entire cohort, 100% achieved 5 GCSEs Grades 9-4 on the key national indicators, including in English and Maths.
Students sitting GCSE Music, Art and Drama achieved on average two grades above their expected baseline prediction, with 100% of entries in Art achieving an impressive Grade 8 or 9. Boarding students also performed 1.5 grades above their baseline predicted grades overall.
“Farlington Sixth Form provides for the individual,” said Head of Sixth Form, Penny Hart. “Our individual ‘pathways planning’ offers a personalised approach to each student’s journey, with teachers knowing their students holistically, leading to not only academic success but also their personal growth. I am excited by the courses that our cohort will go on to pursue at university, and look forward to following their continued successes.”
Headmaster James Passam says, “We are all delighted with our students’ performance in their GCSE exams. As an academically non-selective school, we are thrilled to see the individual successes for each student this year, whether they are achieving the highest grades or have strived equally hard to achieve their personal best in a particular area. The continued success of our students across the broad range of subjects that we offer is testament to both the hard work invested by students and the dedication shown by our teaching staff. In addition, so many of our students deserve recognition for what they achieve impressively outside of the classroom in sports and the arts.”.
If you like this post about Sussex school, Farlington School, you may also like:
