SchoolFacts.uk

The Park Community School

Secondary · Barnstaple · EX32 9AX

⇄ Compare with another school
Good

SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection

We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →

Quality of education: GoodBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: GoodSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 3 June 2025

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

1,408 pupils · 94% of 1,500 capacity

School type
Academy converter
Age range
11–16
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
26.7% of pupils
English as additional language
4.2% of pupils
SEN support
12.3% of pupils
EHC plan
2.6% of pupils
Website
http://www.theparkschool.org.uk
URN
146094

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

1.00 first-choice applications per place

252 places offered · 252 first-choice applications · roughly balanced

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7

Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

Last child offered a place under the distance criterion (2021 entry, the most recent year with a distance-only cutoff) lived within 1716.3 m (≈1.07 mi)

measured in a straight line.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

GCSE results (2024/2025)

278 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
46.6
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
65.8%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
47.5%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
4.2
England 4.1

Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school46.6
Median of its 12 closest peers44.7
Devon average45.9
England46.1

On attainment 8, this school is in line with the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Colne Valley High SchoolHuddersfield · 199 miles awayGood42.4
Sir Robert Pattinson AcademyLincoln · 207 miles awayGood (2016)45.9
Haslingden High School and Sixth FormRossendale · 195 miles awayExpected standard44.2
The Knights Templar SchoolBaldock · 178 miles awayGood48.5
Sir John Leman High SchoolBeccles · 258 miles awayExpected standard44.8
Colne Community SchoolColchester · 224 miles awayGood43
Thorp AcademyRyton · 286 miles awayGood47.2
Oxted SchoolOxted · 176 miles awayExpected standard44.6
The Streetly AcademySutton Coldfield · 139 miles awayGood42.1
The Marches SchoolOswestry · 130 miles awayGood43.1
Chelmer Valley High SchoolChelmsford · 201 miles awayGood45.3
Plymstock SchoolPlymouth · 49 miles awayGood47.3

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
9.2%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
25.7%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
17.9
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

92% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 1% moved to another state school · 7% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where pupils go after GCSEs

In sustained education, work or training
91%
Continuing in education
78%
Apprenticeship
8%
Employment
6%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
8/10less deprived than most of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
8/10less deprived than most of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher36.1%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications14.8%18.1%
In managerial or professional work37.9%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways12.6%18.1%
Residents in very good health48.3%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier81.9%62.3%
Social housing5.9%17.1%
Privately rented12.2%20.5%
Detached houses59.4%22.9%
Flats9.8%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms45%21.1%
Households with no car or van11.5%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01020128 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,245 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£229,000219 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£180,000–£310,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (51)£375,000
Semi-detached (36)£240,000
Terraced (99)£210,000
Flat (33)£135,000

Homes around this school are cheaper than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Inside the Year 7 cutoff distance (1.72 km, 2021 entry): 566 sales, median £231,000. The homes that would have got a child in that year, at the straight-line distance the school last filled to.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
0an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
0an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
4an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
0an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools