Chailey Secondary School opened in April 1958, is a comprehensive

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in the village of South Chailey, Chailey, just outside

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, UK. Chailey School was awarded

specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

Language College Status in July 2002. In the year 2007, the school was also awarded

Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanitie ...

status. The school also provides adult classes in French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. It does not have a sixth form. In recent years the school has been substantially rebuilt, with little of the old buildings remaining. In 2007 at least 99% of students acquired one

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

at grades A*–G and in 2009, 82% of students achieved 5 or more A*–C grades with 72% achieving 5 or more including English and maths. The school academic program spans a range of disciplines including arts, sciences or humanities. The current

head teacher A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management Management (or managing ...

is Helen Key. She has been headteacher from 2016 to 2025. In 2008 it celebrated its 50th anniversary since opening as a

secondary modern A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils ...

in 1958. On 6 June 2008, The Duchess of Gloucester visited the school to attend a citizenship ceremony, the first of its kind to be held in a school with students present. This was to coincide with the school's 50th anniversary.

Houses

The house groups, known as forms, are named after local hills and landmarks. The most forms in a year group has been seven. The original four houses were Caburn, Chanctonbury, Ditchling and Firle * Ashdown * Ditchling * Firle * Weald (only used for year groups with six forms or more, currently only the class of 2015 and 2016) * Keymer (only used for year groups with seven forms) * Caburn * Glynde

Notable former pupils

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; O'Meara, born 30 March 1965) is an English journalist and media personality. He began his career in 1988 at the tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, at the age of 29, he was appointed editor of ...

, television presenter and former ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' editor * Perou, fashion, portrait and music photographer * Cleo Demetriou, So Awkward actor

References

External links

{{authority control Secondary schools in East Sussex Educational institutions established in 1958 1958 establishments in England Community schools in East Sussex Specialist language colleges in England Specialist humanities colleges in England