The schools are good, and the primaries are the easy bit. Across the county, more than eight in ten graded schools are good or better. Most villages in the area have a primary of their own. Secondary school means a drive or a long bus ride. Picking the primary is simple, and the planning starts when your child turns eleven.
Ofsted has given 103 of the 122 graded schools across West Sussex a rating of good or better, a solid majority by any measure. Eleven of those are outstanding. At the other end, 17 require improvement and two are inadequate. These counts cover the whole county, not only the Pulborough area, so they tell you what the local system is like rather than how any one school here is doing. The settings Ofsted has not yet graded are left out of these counts altogether.
A school near your house is not a school place. Admission depends on the council's rules and each school's own criteria, and buyers who assume the village school comes with the house tend to find out in spring, when the offer letter arrives. Look up each school's current admissions policy before you exchange contracts, not after.
The primaries are spread across the villages. Storrington Primary School serves the area's biggest settlement, and Thakeham Primary School and West Chiltington Community Primary School cover the villages to the east. Many of the rest are small Church of England village schools in places like Fittleworth, Bury and Ashington. The Department for Transport's 2019 modelling puts the nearest primary about 16 minutes' walk away on average, or about 8 minutes by car. Secondary is another matter: about 19 minutes by car, about 50 minutes by public transport, and close to two hours on foot. None of the schools in the area's own list is a secondary, so the school run becomes a daily car journey once your child reaches Year 7. Dorset House School and Windlesham House School are also in the area, for the parents whose budget stretches that far.
The schools are one of the area's real strengths, and the primaries in particular come close to making the decision for you. Just be ready to spend the secondary years driving.