Working here

Chailey is a thriving, successful school set in rural Sussex, just north of Lewes, and within easy reach of Brighton and Haywards Heath. We are proud of our traditional values and innovative approaches to Teaching and Learning. 

Staff are friendly, dedicated and supportive; our students are happy and proud to be part of the school. We have a very low level of staff turnover because we are kind and supportive to each other. Chailey is a school where teachers and students can thrive. Of course, working in a school is demanding and all of our staff are hard-working and go above and beyond to support our young people.

Visitors to Chailey School often comment on the calm teaching environment and fantastic relationships between students and teachers.

We had our last Ofsted visit in January 2022 which we were very pleased with.

The Ofsted report contained comments such as:

• ‘This is a kind school. The school’s values of kindness, resilience, independence and creativity permeate everything.’
• ‘Welfare and wellbeing are high priorities in this small rural community school.’
• ‘Pupils are knowledgeable about diversity including Black history and gender equality, sexual orientation and gender identity. Pupils respect different ethnicities and cultures. They value the different contributions that everyone makes.’
• ‘The curriculum is designed well to meet the needs and aspirations of all pupils including the most able.’
• ‘Leaders and governors are ambitious for what pupils can achieve. Parents and guardians speak enthusiastically about the school.’

We believe that this is a very strong foundation from which to aspire to excellence in everything we do.