The schools here are average, and the inspectors haven't been around recently enough to say otherwise. The primary maths average sits at about 103, a point above the national average. The secondary Attainment 8 score sits at about 44, a point or so below it. Seven mainstream state primaries cover the area, two state secondaries. The picture is steady rather than starry.
At primary level, the maths average comes out at around 103, which puts the local cohort just above the national line of 100. About seven mainstream state primaries serve the wider area. The two Horndean ones are Horndean Infant School and Horndean Church of England Junior School, which together handle the village's own infant-to-junior journey. North up the A3, Catherington Church of England Infant School picks up the upper end of the catchment. South into the Havant fringe, the Padnell Infant and Padnell Junior pair and the Hart Plain Infant and Hart Plain Junior pair do the rest of the work, with Petersgate Infant filling in the southern edge. Current Ofsted grades for any of these primaries aren't available right now, so anyone serious about a specific badge will need to ring the school and ask what the latest inspection actually said.
At secondary, the Attainment 8 score sits at about 44, which puts the local cohort a point or two below the national average. There are two state secondaries in the immediate area. The first is Horndean Technology College, which sits in the village itself and is the default for most local families. The second is The Cowplain School, just down the A3, which picks up the southern half of the natural catchment. Beyond those two, families also end up at Oaklands Catholic School, Purbrook Park School and Crookhorn College, which are the other names that come up in school-gate conversations. Havant and South Downs College handles sixth-form provision. As with the primaries, current Ofsted grades for these secondaries aren't available right now, so the cohort number is doing most of the talking.
None of these names guarantees admission. The catchment runs across two local-authority boundaries, with East Hampshire to the north and Havant to the south, and the offer letter is allocated on distance and sibling links rather than on which estate agent's bullet point you read. A house on Horndean's southern edge might land at a Cowplain school. A house on the northern edge might land closer to Clanfield. The catchment system is honest about what it does. The postcode brochure usually isn't.
The Horndean schools picture is the village average dressed up as East Hampshire. Average results, no grades to argue about, and a catchment system that decides most of the question before the parents do.