SIX Sussex schools failed to meet the government’s minimum standards last year, new figures have revealed.

The data by the Department for Education suggest 382 state-funded mainstream schools are under-performing.

They include:

Longhill High School, Rottingdean

Causeway School, Eastbourne

The Littlehampton Academy

Chichester High School

Thomas Bennett Community College, Crawley

Ark William Parker Academy, Hastings.

The figures are based on how teenagers at secondary schools performed in their GCSE exams in 2018, taking into account progress not attainment.

The tables will come as a blow to Longhill which was rated good by Ofsted after being inspected last September.

Headteacher Kate Williams said at the time: “This is a result we’re all very proud of.

“We know we’re good and now Ofsted has officially recognised this too, which is amazing. It’s thanks to the dedication of all involved, especially our staff.

“We’re also very grateful for tremendous support from families, the local community and the pupils themselves, of course.

“We are now going to build on this success and make sure everyone knows Longhill High School is a good place to be.”

We were unable to speak to Ms Williams today despite asking to speak with her.

Schools fall below the government’s performance threshold if pupils fail to make enough progress across eight subjects, with particular weight given to English and maths.

Schools are judged against a measure called Progress 8 which looks at the progress a pupil has made between the end of primary and the end of secondary school, and their results across eight GCSEs compared to their achievement of other youngsters with similar abilities.

A secondary is considered to be below the government’s floor standard if, on average, pupils score half a grade less (-0.5) across eight GCSEs than they would have been expected to compared to pupils of similar abilities nationally.