Anyone know anything about secondaries in Hastings?

[HobbitMama]

DH and I are beginning to consider moving along the coast to Hastings, but I think it's far too difficult to tell what a school is like from it's past grades and Ofsted ratings.
Just thought someone might have a DC at one of the schools there, so thought I'd ask!
The ex is scaring the kids by saying that all the schools are atrocious and that if we try to do this he's going to try to get full custody, so just doing as much research as I can. Obviously, as the prospect of actually moving there increases, we'll go and visit them ourselves - but does anyone know anything about them?

Your ex has a point, I taught in a secondary school in St-L's for a few years. It really was an awful experience.

This was about 10 years ago, so hopefully thing have improved

Schools in hastings are generally bad. The 2 single sex schools are better. The bad schools are being joined together i think and a new one built.

But some of us survive them

Okay, I'm in my 30s, so this was a long time ago, but I went to what was then deemed the "worst school in Hastings" (the one people used to move house to get away from)

Don't want to give exact details, as don't want to "out" self. But out of my group of friends, we've all done pretty well for ourselves (working in media/ academia/ professionals etc)
And am one of 3 kids, one of us is a barrister (er... is that the spelling??) the other 2 are "professionals", and we have a PhD floating around, too.

Not trying to brag, just saying a "crap" school doesn't mean everything. I know some current pupils of this school right now, and although it's not great, they seem to be surviving....

Dunno if that helps....

(FWIW, I personally can't imagine having gone anywhere else, but I don't have any school-age DCs yet, and I guess I may feel very differently when it's my own DCs that are looking at schools, so am not judging either way...)

Some terrible generalisation here about the senior schools in Hastings
There are 2 same sex schools in Hastings, William Parker for the boys and Helenswood for the girls, both achieve decent results, Then there are what is being banded about as the sink schools, Hillcrest, The Grove and Filsham Valley. The latter 3 are being amalgamated to make 2 new academies but all have improved recently under the guidance of Sir Dexter Hutt and his Ninestiles team. There is much unhappiness about amalgamating the 3 but it seems that even with the improvement and a lot of parents unhappiness and campaigning, its a done deal and will start moving forwards shortly.

I have worked in William Parker and Hillcrest, and Hillcrest in particular takes students from very low income, deprived families in one of the worst areas of deprivation in Hastings, yet as a school I always thought it was a very caring school, with staff who would always go that extra mile for any student who wanted to learn. All schools have their fair share of disinterested pupils but they also have their students who excel and achieve 9, A*-C grades.
If however you are Catholic, St Richards Catholic College in nearby Bexhill offers an excellent education from yr 7 - 11 with results that rival some of the local fee paying schools. Also Claverham, in Battle is an Ofsted grade 1 school which regularly achieves great results, its oversubscribed but if you're in the area of St. Leonards that comes within the catchment area (Beauport Park area) you could be in with a chance of a place.
If you want any more info, just shout

CowsGoMoo has summed up the situation very well.
I went to Helenswood many moons ago and it was a very good academic school and so is Claverham. My siblings went to St Richards (in Bexhill), which although they didnt like it, still has a very good reputation.
No one yet has mentioned Bexhill College which is a 6th form college and has changed a lot since I went there but used to be very good. No idea what its like now but I loved the place!

I was at Hillcrest 1984- 1988 (?) and i look back favourably about my time there . The music dept was a tad weak but compensated for by the excellent local authority music services . Prep for life wasn’t all that progressive ( homosexuality was a phase many teenagers go through but mostly grow out of so don’t worry too much ) but was bound to be a reflection of the time to some extent .
No major complaints . Inspirational teachers in all departments . Thankyou Hillcrest ! I’ll be deeply saddened if it has gone downhill .