Bishop Luffa School, named after a former Bishop of Chichester, Ralph de Luffa, is a co-educational Church of England secondary school located in ChichesterWest Sussex, England. The number of enrolled pupils was around 1,400 in 2010, in eight 'Year' house-forms and the sixth form. The school, formerly a 'Technology College', is now a 'CofE Teaching School', holding Leading Edge status, with national Artsmark and Sportsmark also having been awarded. From its foundation to 2013; a Voluntary Aided establishment, on 1 December 2013 the school successfully converted to Academy status.
New classrooms
The school applied for planning permission for a drama studio to form the start of a new £2.5m creative arts centre for the school. The planning application was approved and the school started construction in August 2006. The drama studio was opened in February 2007. The school has also extended their sports hall, adding an extension onto the original facility, where the climbing wall is now kept. At the end of 2017, over 18 months of work was completed to remodel the former 'K Block', at the southern end of the buildings – forming a newly updated Humanities Block, with additional and remodelled facilities. At the same time, the Main Reception of the school was repositioned into the centre of this new facility, from the Northern site entrance – which also had the effect of amending the postal address of the school – which now is located on Westgate.
Sixth form
There is an integral sixth form at Bishop Luffa for students who wish to continue their education after the age of sixteen, with an annual intake of around 160. Although 140 existing pupils are given priority, 20 pupils from other schools are also accepted each year for entry in Year 12. A wide range of subjects can be studied, including Business Studies, Computing, Law and Economics. The school also offers the new AQA Baccalaureate 'Bacc' hybrid qualification, including a 100-hour self-directed project. Typically, around 30–35% of GCSE students leave the school aged sixteen for either further AS/A2 College study, vocational training or employment. A2 level pass rates at Bishop Luffa are above the national average. In 2017, for co-educational State schools in West Sussex, Bishop Luffa pupils achieved the 3rd highest average individual point scores.
Academic performance
The school's admission policy is non-academically selective. In 2017, amongst co-educational State Secondaries, the school was rated the highest in West Sussex against the new 'Attainment 8' Key GCSE subject scores per pupil, including English, Maths, Sciences and Humanities. The latest Ofsted report rated the school as uniformly "outstanding" across all metrics. In 2008 the school was praised by the Anglican schools inspectorate for its Christian religious character and met minimum standards.
Houses
Years 7 – 11 are split into 8 house groups, each named after former Bishops of Chichester: Andrewes – Green, Burrows – Blue, King – Pink, Otter – Purple, Ridgeway – Red, Sherborne – Black, Story – White and Wilson – Yellow
World record
On 24 March 2011, during the school's annual charity week, the whole school successfully took part in an attempt to break the previous record for "Most People in a Human Smiley", with 1349 pupils and teachers. The record was lost in July 2011 to an Indian university, with 3737 people.
