Schools in Rustington are decent, shared, and nobody's brochure item. There is one primary school inside the village. The neighbouring parishes carry a cluster more. Secondary provision is in the towns beside, not the village itself. This is a catchment where parents travel a few miles between home and school gate and don't complain about it. Households with children make up about one in five of the total in Rustington, which isn't many, and the school offer reflects that.
A named school in the area does not guarantee your child gets a place there. Places are allocated on distance from the school gate, priority categories including looked-after children and sibling links, and faith criteria at the church-linked schools. Streets on the edge of a catchment can be a coin toss year on year. If school choice is the reason for the move, ring the admissions office before you offer. Not after. Not at the reservation-of-interest stage. Before. The admissions office will tell you which addresses on which streets got offered which schools in the last three years. That is the data that matters. The estate agent's line about being in a good catchment is not.
The village-anchored primary is Rustington Community Primary School. The wider cluster serving the postcode and the parishes around it includes Georgian Gardens Community Primary School, Summerlea Community Primary School, East Preston Infant School and East Preston Junior School, St Margaret's Church of England Primary School, St Mary's Church of England Primary School, and St Wilfrids Catholic Primary School. Along the coast to the east sit Ferring Church of England Primary School and Goring-by-Sea Church of England Primary School, and further into Worthing, Orchards Infant School, Orchards Junior School, West Park Church of England Primary School, and English Martyrs Catholic Primary School. On the Littlehampton side lie River Beach Primary School, White Meadows Primary Academy, St Catherine's Catholic Primary School, and Lyminster Primary School. Secondary provision is at The Angmering School, The Littlehampton Academy, and St Oscar Romero Catholic School. Special provision within the wider catchment includes Palatine Primary School, Courtlands Independent Special School, and Cornfield School in Littlehampton. That is a serious spread of options for a village whose median resident is 56, and it is possible because the coastal parishes each contribute to the same shared pool.
Three out of five on the schools rating, which is a middle mark for a middle situation. A working village primary. Real choice across the wider catchment. No obvious badges of excellence, and no obvious badges of trouble either. If schools are the top of the buying priority list, Rustington is not the postcode that shortcuts the choice. If schools are one of several factors on the list, the coast, the quiet, and the shared catchment serve well enough.